Link Centre Dictionary

scam

UK/ˈskæm/ US/ˈskæm/ fairly common slang
noun (1) verb (1)

noun

1.

verb

1.

deprive of by deceit

  • “He swindled me out of my inheritance”
  • “She defrauded the customers who trusted her”
  • “the cashier gypped me when he gave me too little change”
Synonyms

Origin

US American carnival slang of uncertain origin. Possibly from scamp (“swindler, cheater”) or Irish cam (“crooked”). Also possibly from Danish skam; if so, it would be a doublet of shame and sham. First use appears c. 1963 in the periodical Time. The word became common use among the US drug culture when in early 1980, after Operation ABSCAM, an FBI sting operation directed at public officials, became public.

Phrases

  • 419 scam
  • advance fee scam
  • exit scam
  • love scam
  • Macau scam
  • Nigerian prince scam
  • Nigerian scam
  • ponzi scam

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.