long con

[ lawng kon, long ]

noun

, Slang.

1. an elaborate confidence game that develops in several stages over an extended period of time wherein the con man or swindler gains the victim’s trust, often bypassing small profits with the goal of reaping a much larger payout in the final maneuver:

   The key to pulling off a long con is giving your marks the illusion of control while you and your team manipulate their choices.

Word History and Origins

Origin of long con¹

long ¹( def ) + con ²( def )

Example Sentences

We’ll never know if that might have been different, for better or worse, had Pruitt or others been free to caution us about the “Apprentice” long con.

From Salon

It was a long con that came to an end last week, prosecutors said, when Mr. Coleman was sentenced to three years in prison after he married a woman in Kentucky, violating the conditions of his probation on a bigamy charge.

From New York Times

By now it is very old news that Trump is an apparent sociopath whose efforts to present himself as a godlike savior is no more than a long con intended to hide his goal of gaining power and control and to conceal his absence of a normal conscience.

From Salon

After joking to People this week that his multiple years of hosting were “all a long con” to get himself a Grammy, he quickly came clean and said he actually “never dreamed nor hoped” that he’d be up for the comedy album statue.

From Los Angeles Times

After a season of dormancy last year that I now recognize as some sort of horticultural long con, it has suddenly stirred into open rebellion, producing truly unreasonable quantities of small, tart fruit.

From New York Times