Wile vs Scam - What's the difference?
wile | scam |
(usually, in the plural) A trick or stratagem practiced for ensnaring or deception; a sly, insidious artifice
* Milton
To entice or lure
, "to pass the time".
To defraud or embezzle.
As nouns the difference between wile and scam
is that wile is wila, black tree lichen (edible lichen) while scam is fraudulent deal.As a verb scam is
to defraud or embezzle.wile
English
(Webster 1913)Noun
(en noun)- He was seduced by her wiles .
- to frustrate all our plots and wiles
Synonyms
* beguilement * allurementVerb
(wil)- Here's a pleasant way to wile away the hours.
Usage notes
The phrase meaning to pass time idly is while away''. We can trace the meaning in an adjectival sense for while back to Old English, hw?len — ''passing, transitory''. We also see it in the whilend — ''temporary, transitory''. But since ''wile away occurs so often, it is now included in many dictionaries.References
* Grammarist.comWhile away or wile away?* Common Errors in the English Language
Wile Away, While Away----
scam
English
Synonyms
* con game * confidence trick * See alsoVerb
(scamm)- They tried to scam her out of her savings.