bunko game
- noun
- Archaic
:
juego de estafa
- He lost thousands of dollars in a bunko game that promised huge returns.
Examples
-
The police warned citizens about the bunko game targeting the elderly in the neighborhood.
-
Don't fall for that bunko game again!
-
Authorities launched a crackdown on bunko games operating in the downtown area.
-
Have you ever played a bunko game?
-
At the carnival, we played a bunko game to win some prizes, but I quickly realized it was just a scam.
-
They attended a bunko game that promised big winnings, but it turned out to be a clever scam.
-
During the reunion, someone organized a bunko game, which left many participants disappointed after discovering it was all a fraud.
Synonyms
678
8.2
A secret plan to trick or cheat people
107
7.2
A dishonest trick to get someone's money or things
67
6.3
A hidden trick to catch or cheat people often run by police
29
7.7
A dishonest plan to cheat people, especially for money
16
8.0
A dishonest plan to trick people and take their money
6
6.6
A dishonest trick that cheats people out of their money
2
8.9
A dishonest trick that gains someone's trust to steal their money
2
9.9
A plan to cheat people and take their money
1
9.9
A trick that cheats people out of their money, often in gambling or fake investments
1
6.6
A dishonest plan to gain someone's trust and then take their money or things
A trick that cheats people out of their money, often by selling fake property
A dishonest scheme that tricks people into giving money, often by selling worthless goods
Dishonest actions that try to trick people
Antonyms
How Fraudulent
Surface Forms
Morphology
Both constituents directly signal deception: 'bunko' denotes a fraudulent scheme and 'game' here means an underhanded plot, so a learner who knows these words can infer that a 'bunko game' is a swindle. The combination is compositional and follows expected English noun-noun naming for scams, making the meaning predictable to a B1 learner who knows the parts.
Etymology
Bunko game may come from an old card game called bunco where cheats would pretend to play fairly but trick people and take their money. That picture of being cheated in a game is why bunko game now means 'a swindle'.