Word.ws English Dictionary

the game is up

the game is up phrase: secret plans or activities have been revealed, usually leading to their failure.

Phrase

the game is up

  1. (idiomatic, informal) Secret plans or activities have been revealed, usually leading to their failure.
    • So far as Pridger was concerned the game was up. He had cooked the buying, he had cooked the selling, he had systematically pillaged the stock.1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries

Questions about the game is up

What does the game is up mean?
The game is up means secret plans or activities have been revealed, usually leading to their failure.
What part of speech is the game is up?
The game is up is a phrase.

Words near the game is up in the dictionary

  1. the full ticket
  2. the fur flies
  3. the future is now
  4. The Game
  5. the game is not worth the candle
  6. the game is up
  7. The Gap
  8. The Gardens
  9. the genie is out of the bottle
  10. the genie's out of the bottle
  11. the ghost walks

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: the game is up (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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