con
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A trick or scam meant to fool someone for personal gain
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kahnIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkɑn
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
informal
A fraud; something carried out with the intention of deceiving, usually for personal, often illegal, gain.
A disadvantage of something, especially when contrasted with its advantages (pros).
slang
A convicted criminal, a convict.
The duty of directing a ship, usually used with the verb to have or to take and accompanied by the article "the."
informal
An organized gathering, such as a convention, conference, or congress.
informal
The conversion of part of a building.
verb
To direct a ship; to superintend the steering of (a vessel); to watch the course of (a vessel) and direct the helmsman how to steer (especially through a channel, etc, rather than steer a compass direction).
transitiveinformal
To trick, lie or defraud, usually for personal gain.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A fraud; something carried out with the intention of deceiving, usually for personal, often illegal, gain.
Used this way, con is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It turns up most in everyday conversation and social media or informal writing contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Casual
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Casual and conversational
Where it naturally appears
- Everyday conversation
- Social media/informal writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.