Meaning of headgame | Babel Free

Definitions

1. An attempt to psychologically manipulate
2. A mental pursuit

Examples

“To celebrate⟳ literature which is headgame, to banish the heart's journey from the page, to lead⟳ into retreat that which Faulkner called Literature's sole concern⟳, the heart in conflict with itself, does not save⟳ lives or bring⟳ the news or alter by even a syllable a culture's top-40 or next one-thousand tunes.”

“And that whole long story about Zach — that was just some kind of headgame?"”

“I wasn't trying to be cruel. It's just, with all the waiting-by-the-phone stuff that happens when you're twenty-five—the headgames, the guys never being honest, or their acting like⟳ you're trying to do something awful to them just by caring—a girl's got to take⟳ her power back.”

“It struck Jill that he was serious, that maybe this wasn't some sort⟳ of rich-guy headgame.”

“Bloch's utopia is not More's headgame. It is real.”

“It does not win⟳ its game with anyone: not with the artists who resent it; nor with social thinkers who look⟳ down on its headgame of words, sounds, and minute particulars; nor with activists who believe⟳ in proving arguments and converting minds by intellectual or other means.”

CEFR level