fair game
Actions permissible by the rulesActions permissible by the rules.
» Tom is fair game.
CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
4 senses(idiomatic, uncountable)Actions permissible by the rules.
Pretending to be slow is fair game. Pretending to be injured is not.
The referee ruled the unprecedented play fair game.
(idiomatic, uncountable)A goal or an object that may legitimately be sought.
After the middle sister's call from a friend's house, her slice of cake was fair game.
Freiwild
(idiomatic, uncountable)An acceptable subject or target for criticism, scrutiny, mockery, or attack.
Anyone running for office is fair game for criticism.
(uncountable)Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see fair, game.: a game that is fair, that does not involve cheating, etc.
- a person who is the aim of an attack (especially a victim of ridicule or exploitation) by some hostile person or influence
Examples
7 sentencesTom is fair game.
It was a fair game.
ruЭто была честная игра. — odexed
His performance was fair game for criticism.
They should be fair game.
In our house, anything that isn't prohibited is fair game.
Translations
3 languagesBy meaning 1
Synonyms
3 synonymsLessons for this word
1 lessons- A1Countable and uncountable nouns — Because it can be uncountable
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.