play fast and loose
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.35 in modern English
25
Scrabble Score
16
Letters
2
Syllables
11
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To ignore proper behavior or social conventions, especially when it suits one's purpose.
verb
To be recklessly inaccurate, inappropriate, or otherwise ignoring guidelines and conventions.
Example Sentences
- "I cannot say that there were any outright lies in the editorial, but it does play fast and loose with the truth."
- "Come, let us have the Arke (saith he) And then, Goe to, it skills not greatly, carry it backe againe: which, what was it, but, to play fast and loose with Religion?"
- "And shall these hands, so lately purg’d of blood, / So newly join’d in love, so strong in both, / Unyoke this seizure and this kind regreet? / Play fast and loose with faith?"
- "“It’s a shame, by Heavens,” said George, working himself up into passion and enthusiasm as he proceeded, “to play at fast and loose with a young girl’s affections—and with such an angel as that—one so superior to the people amongst whom she lived, that she might have excited envy, only she was so good and gentle, that it’s wonder anybody dared to hate her.”"
- "A devout scripturist, he accepted the Hebrew Bible as the final word of God, not to be played fast and loose with but to be received as a rule of universal application, perfect to the last word and least injunction."
- "But while in the case of ordinary men the observance of the rules is left to the choice of the individual, in the case of the god-man it is enforced under penalty of dismissal from his high station, or even of death. For his worshippers have far too great a stake in his life to allow him to play fast and loose with it."
Etymology
From the con game fast and loose.