con
A disadvantage of something, especially when contrasted with its advantages (pros).
Adjective
- Abbreviation of consolidated: only used in naming.
Origin
Clipping of consolidation or consolidated.
Synonyms
Related
air-con arroz con pollo bodycon café con leche chile con carne chili con carne chili con queso chilli con carne con amore con brio cone con law con moto con-non-con con rod con-scan con-sensual con sord con sordini con sordino crim con fabes con amasueles loli-con mod cons
Noun dialectal, obsolete
- Squirrel, particularly the red squirrel.
- A squirrel's nest.
Origin
Origin uncertain. Perhaps a clipping of Middle English acquerne, aquerne, ocquerne, okerne (“squirrel”), from Old English ācweorna, āqueorna, āquorna, ācurna (“squirrel”), from Proto-West Germanic *aikwernō, from Proto-Germanic *aikwernô (“squirrel”); or from its Old Norse cognate íkorni (“squirrel”), from the same ultimate source. Cognate with West Frisian iikhoarn (“squirrel”), Dutch eekhoorn (“squirrel”), German Eichhorn (“squirrel”), Icelandic íkorni (“squirrel”).
Forms
Noun Entry 3
- A disadvantage of something, especially when contrasted with its advantages (pros).
- pros and cons
Origin
Abbreviation of Latin contrā (“against”).
Forms
Synonyms
Antonyms
Related
Noun slang
- A convicted criminal, a convict.
Origin
Clipping of convict.
Forms
Derived
Noun informal
- A fraud; something carried out with the intention of deceiving, usually for personal, often illegal, gain.
- My heart is breaking for my sister And the con that she called "love" - 2012, Jeff Bhasker, Nate Ruess, Andrew Dost, Jack Antonoff, “Some Nights”, in Some Nights), performed by fun.:
- Leavers will be attracted to that story because it spares them the discomfort of admitting that they voted for a con, and then made a prime minister of the con artist. - 2021 February 23, Rafael Behr, “Brexit is a...
Synonyms: scam deception deceit dupery fiddle fetch hocus-pocus jugglery legerdemain list mislead prestidigitation Punic faith rinky-dink ruse sleight of hand subterfuge swack trickery
Origin
From con trick, shortened from confidence trick.
Forms
Derived
bull con con artist con man conman con woman conwoman Don the Con green con long con short con
Noun alt of, alternative
- Alternative form of conn (“navigational direction of a ship”).
Origin
From earlier cond; see conn.
Derived
Noun informal
- The conversion of part of a building.
- We're getting a loft con done next year.
Origin
Clipping of conversion.
Forms
Noun informal
- An organized gathering, such as a convention, conference, or congress.
- I can't speak for Faye as ed of FHAPA, but it would be really swell of someone could send us a set of Intersection daily newszines, plus any con flyers or other fannish papers that were there to had for the picking up:...
Origin
Clipping of convention or conference.
Forms
Derived
con crud confan con flu congoer conrunner constaff consuite furcon post-con depression relaxacon Trekcon
Noun informal, obsolete
- Consumption; pulmonary tuberculosis.
Origin
Clipping of consumption.
Noun abbreviation
- A political conservative.
- own the cons
Origin
Clipping of conservative; compare lib.
Forms
Derived
Noun business, marketing
- Abbreviation of consolidation: only used in naming.
Verb rare
- To study or examine carefully, especially in order to gain knowledge of; to learn, or learn by heart.
- For Caſſius is a-weary of the World: / Hated by one he loues, brau'd by his Brother, / Check'd like a bondman, all his faults obſeru'd, / Set in a Note-booke, learn'd, and con'd by roate / To caſt into my Teeth. - 1599...
- At length, himself unsettling, he the pond / Stirred with his staff, and fixedly did look / Upon the muddy water, which he conned, / As if he had been reading in a book - 1815 [1802], William Wordsworth, Resolution and...
- I did not come into parliament to con my lesson. I had earned my pension before I set my foot in St. Stephen's chapel. - 1795, Edmund Burke, Letter to a Noble Lord on the Attacks Made upon him and his Pension, in the...
- To know; understand; acknowledge.
- Of Muses Hobbinol, I conne no skill - 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLC:
Origin
Etymology tree Middle English connen English con Inherited from Middle English connen, inherited from Old English cunnan (“to know, know how”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *kunnan (“recognize, know how”), inherited from Proto-Germanic *kunnaną (“to know, know how”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (“to know”) Doublet of can.
Forms
Related
Verb alt of, alternative
- Alternative form of conn (“direct a ship”).
Forms
Verb informal, transitive
- To trick, lie or defraud, usually for personal gain.
- Neoliberalism has conned us into fighting climate change as individuals [title] - 2017 July 17, Martin Lukacs, “Neoliberalism has conned us into fighting climate change as individuals”, in The Guardian, archived from...
- Taiwan man soaks feet in dry ice for 10 hours to con insurance firms, causing amputation […] A man in Taiwan shocked the internet after attempting to defraud five insurance companies by immersing his feet in a bucket of...
Synonyms: be sold a pup abuse beglammer counterfeit deceive dissemble dissimulate feign jiff lead astray overreach put on spoof sham trick