parlor tricks
Simple entertaining deceptions
Parlor tricks are simple feats of magic, illusion, or sleight of hand performed for entertainment in informal settings—the kind of thing someone might show off at a party.
The term often carries dismissive connotations, suggesting something superficially impressive but lacking real substance: His policy proposals are just parlor tricks designed to distract voters.
- pick a cardSelect from the deck
- sleightDexterous trickery
- legerdemainSkillful hand-based deception
- smoke and mirrorsDeceptive obfuscation tactics
- magicSupernatural or illusory power
mentalism · mind reading · conjuring · illusion · prestidigitation · close-up magic · cups and balls · jugglery · misdirection · escapology · showmanship · sleight of hand · nothing up my sleeve · ventriloquism · vanishing acts · escape artist · stage magic · abracadabra
- parlor gamescharades, twenty questions, blind man's bluff, forfeits, consequences
- magicwizard, wand, sorcerer, witchcraft, mage
- paranormalghosts, paranormal, haunting, poltergeist, apparition
parlor tricksstage illusions
Performed deceptions before audiences
Broadway productions · stadium concerts · pyrotechnic displays
parlor, parlour, parlors, parlours, trick, tricks, tricked, tricking, trickery