sharp practices
Borderline dishonest tactics
Sharp practices are business dealings that are technically legal but ethically questionable—exploiting loopholes, fine print, or others' ignorance for advantage.
The term implies cunning that stops just short of fraud: The company's sharp practices included hiding fees in dense contract language.
Someone who engages in sharp practices may not break the law but certainly bends good faith.
- usuryExtortionate money lending
- fraudsDeceptive acts or impostors
- deceptionIntentional misleading of others
- trickeryDeliberate deception or fraud
- double dealingSecretly acting against allies
chicanery · dishonesty · grafts · swindle · shenanigans · caveat emptor · scam · bait-and-switch · pump and dump · price gouging · hidden fees · fine print · insider trading · artifices · manipulations · cooking the books · creative accounting · collusion
sharp practicesfair dealing
Honest, equitable conduct principle
good faith · ethical business practices · square dealing · straight dealing · integrity
sharp practicesstraightforwardness
Quality of being direct
candor · openness · forthrightness · directness · cards on the table
sharp, sharply, sharpen, sharpened, sharpening, sharpens, sharpness, sharper, sharpest