Standard Lemma guide

scam

noun · verb · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈskæm/
  • Received-Pronunciation: [ˈskæm]
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales: /ˈskam/
  • British, Southern, Standard, Wales: [ˈskam]
  • Northern-England: [ˈskam] ~ [ˈskäm]
  • Scotland: [ˈskäm]
  • /ˈskæm/ US, Canada, æ-raising
  • [ˈskeə̯m] ~ [ˈskɛə̯m] US, Canada, æ-raising
  • Australian: /ˈskæːm/
  • [ˈskæːm] without æ-raising
  • [ˈskɛːm] ~ [ˈskeːm] æ-raising
  • New-Zealand: /ˈskɛm/
  • New-Zealand: [ˈskɛm]
  • rhymes with -æm
  • CMU ARPABET: S K AE1 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A fraudulent or dishonest deal. A swindle.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • That marketing scheme looks like a scam to me.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: deception, imposition, hype, deceit, dupery, fiddle, fetch, hocus-pocus, jugglery, legerdemain, list, mislead, prestidigitation, Punic faith, rinky-dink, ruse, sleight of hand, subterfuge, swack, trickery

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Something that is promoted using scams.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • That new diet burger is a scam.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

To defraud or embezzle.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: ambitransitive

Examples

  • They tried to scam her out of her savings.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: con

Antonyms: none provided

4

verb

Meaning 4

To seek out a partner for casual sex; to hit on.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: slang

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

a fraudulent business scheme

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: cozenage

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: swindle, cheat, rig

6

verb

Meaning 6

deprive of by deceit

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • 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

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: victimize, swindle, rook, goldbrick, nobble, diddle, bunco, defraud, mulct, gyp, gip, hornswoggle, short-change, con

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: cheat, rip off, chisel

Narrower terms: short-change, short

History

Etymology

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.

Across languages

Translations

127 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: اِحْتِيَال (iḥtiyāl) — fraudulent deal
  • Bengali: ছলনা (cholna) — fraudulent deal
  • Bulgarian: нечестна сделка (nečestna sdelka) — fraudulent deal
  • Bulgarian: изма́ма (izmáma) — fraudulent deal
  • Catalan: estafa — fraudulent deal
  • Catalan: enredada — fraudulent deal
  • Catalan: tripijoc — fraudulent deal
  • Chinese Mandarin: 詭計 /诡计 (guǐjì) — fraudulent deal
  • Chinese Mandarin: 騙局 /骗局 (piànjú) — fraudulent deal
  • Czech: podvod — fraudulent deal
  • Danish: bedrageri — fraudulent deal
  • Dutch: oplichting — fraudulent deal
  • Dutch: deceptie — fraudulent deal
  • Dutch: bedrog — fraudulent deal
  • Dutch: misleiding — fraudulent deal
  • Esperanto: trompo — fraudulent deal
  • Esperanto: friponaĵo — fraudulent deal
  • Finnish: huijaus — fraudulent deal
  • Finnish: vedätys — fraudulent deal
  • Finnish: vilunki — fraudulent deal
  • French: entourloupe — fraudulent deal
  • French: arnaque — fraudulent deal
  • French: escroquerie — fraudulent deal
  • French: trucage — fraudulent deal
  • French: tour de passe-passe — fraudulent deal
  • French: tripotage — fraudulent deal
  • Galician: calote — fraudulent deal
  • German: Betrug — fraudulent deal
  • German: Beschiss — fraudulent deal
  • German: Gaunerei — fraudulent deal
  • German: Schwindel — fraudulent deal
  • German: Trickdiebstahl — fraudulent deal
  • German: Trickbetrug — fraudulent deal
  • Greek: απάτη (apáti) — fraudulent deal
  • Greek: κομπίνα (kompína) — fraudulent deal
  • Hebrew: תרגיל עוקץ — fraudulent deal
  • Hebrew: הונאה (honaá) — fraudulent deal
  • Hebrew: תרמית (tarmít) — fraudulent deal
  • Ido: eskroko — fraudulent deal
  • Indonesian: scam — fraudulent deal
  • Italian: scam — fraudulent deal
  • Italian: fregatura — fraudulent deal
  • Italian: truffa — fraudulent deal
  • Italian: imbroglio — fraudulent deal
  • Italian: raggiro — fraudulent deal
  • Italian: inciucio — fraudulent deal
  • Italian: tresca — fraudulent deal
  • Italian: intrallazzo — fraudulent deal
  • Italian: macchinazione — fraudulent deal
  • Italian: pastetta — fraudulent deal
  • Italian: bidone — fraudulent deal
  • Italian: bidonata — fraudulent deal
  • Italian: trucco — fraudulent deal
  • Italian: frode — fraudulent deal
  • Japanese: 詐欺 (sagi) — fraudulent deal
  • Kabuverdianu: kanbalaxu — fraudulent deal
  • Khmer: ការបោកប្រាស់ (kaa baok prah) — fraudulent deal
  • Khmer: គ្រោងការក្បត់ (krooŋ kaa kbɑt) — fraudulent deal
  • Macedonian: и́змама (ízmama) — fraudulent deal
  • Macedonian: дала́вера (dalávera) — fraudulent deal
  • Macedonian: ду́бара (dúbara) — fraudulent deal
  • Norwegian Bokmål: bedrageri — fraudulent deal
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: svindel — fraudulent deal
  • Plautdietsch: Schwindel — fraudulent deal
  • Polish: oszustwo — fraudulent deal
  • Polish: przekręt — fraudulent deal
  • Polish: szwindel — fraudulent deal
  • Portuguese: golpe — fraudulent deal
  • Portuguese: calote — fraudulent deal
  • Portuguese: embrulhada — fraudulent deal
  • Portuguese: fraude — fraudulent deal
  • Portuguese: falcatrua — fraudulent deal
  • Portuguese: logro — fraudulent deal
  • Punjabi: ਸਕੈਮ (sakaim) — fraudulent deal
  • Russian: афе́ра (aféra) — fraudulent deal
  • Russian: жу́льничество (žúlʹničestvo) — fraudulent deal
  • Russian: моше́нничество (mošénničestvo) — fraudulent deal
  • Russian: обма́н (obmán) — fraudulent deal
  • Russian: надува́тельство (naduvátelʹstvo) — fraudulent deal
  • Spanish: estafa — fraudulent deal
  • Spanish: timo — fraudulent deal
  • Spanish: chanchullo — fraudulent deal
  • Spanish: petardo — fraudulent deal
  • Spanish: pufo — fraudulent deal
  • Swedish: lurendrejeri — fraudulent deal
  • Swedish: bedrägeri — fraudulent deal
  • Turkish: dolandırma — fraudulent deal
  • Turkish: dolandırıcılık — fraudulent deal
  • Vietnamese: trò lừa đảo — fraudulent deal
  • Arabic: اِحْتَالَ (iḥtāla) — to defraud or embezzle
  • Azerbaijani: atmaq — to defraud or embezzle
  • Bulgarian: мамя (mamja) — to defraud or embezzle
  • Catalan: estafar — to defraud or embezzle
  • Chinese Mandarin: 欺詐 /欺诈 (qīzhà) — to defraud or embezzle
  • Chinese Mandarin: 騙局 /骗局 (piànjú) — to defraud or embezzle
  • Chinese Mandarin: 詐騙 /诈骗 (zhàpiàn) — to defraud or embezzle
  • Dutch: oplichten — to defraud or embezzle
  • Esperanto: prifriponi — to defraud or embezzle
  • Finnish: vedättää — to defraud or embezzle
  • Finnish: huijata — to defraud or embezzle
  • French: entourlouper — to defraud or embezzle
  • French: arnaquer — to defraud or embezzle
  • German: betrügen — to defraud or embezzle
  • Hebrew: הונה (honá) — to defraud or embezzle
  • Hebrew: רימה (rimá) — to defraud or embezzle
  • Italian: truffare — to defraud or embezzle
  • Italian: imbrogliare — to defraud or embezzle
  • Italian: raggirare — to defraud or embezzle
  • Italian: fregare — to defraud or embezzle
  • Khmer: ស៊ីឆ (sii chɑɑ) — to defraud or embezzle
  • Khmer: ឆីឆ (chəy-chɑɑ) — to defraud or embezzle
  • Khmer: បោកប្រាស់ (baok prah) — to defraud or embezzle
  • Macedonian: и́змами (ízmami) — to defraud or embezzle
  • Macedonian: ма́ми (mámi) — to defraud or embezzle
  • Portuguese: aplicar um golpe — to defraud or embezzle
  • Portuguese: lograr — to defraud or embezzle
  • Russian: обма́нывать (obmányvatʹ) — to defraud or embezzle
  • Russian: кида́ть (kidátʹ) — to defraud or embezzle
  • Spanish: estafar — to defraud or embezzle
  • Spanish: timar — to defraud or embezzle
  • Spanish: sisar — to defraud or embezzle
  • Spanish: tirar perro muerto — to defraud or embezzle
  • Spanish: sonsaquear — to defraud or embezzle
  • Swedish: lura — to defraud or embezzle
  • Swedish: scama — to defraud or embezzle
  • Turkish: dolandırmak — to defraud or embezzle
  • Vietnamese: lừa đảo — to defraud or embezzle