grifter
a person who operates a side show at a circus, fair, etc., especially a gambling attraction.
a swindler, dishonest gambler, or the like.
Origin of grifter
1Words Nearby grifter
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use grifter in a sentence
A lack of gatekeepers is broadly a good thing, but it also leaves the door open to grifters.
The Trailer: Click, donate, lose: Do Democrats have a candidate glut? | David Weigel | May 13, 2021 | Washington PostMeanwhile, back in India, the situation worsens with more new cases and grifters exploiting the situation.
Indians Run for the Exits, Taking COVID Risks With Them to Nepal, Dubai From a Dying Nation | Barbie Latza Nadeau | May 7, 2021 | The Daily BeastMany of the personalities who ran these shows were poor business executives, and a few were flat-out grifters.
Restoring the Fairness Doctrine can’t prevent another Rush Limbaugh | Heather Hendershot | February 19, 2021 | Washington PostBy the 1990s, he’d fallen in with grifters who “branded” him with companies whose business models percolated between accidental and overt fraud.
‘True Believer’ tries to capture Stan Lee. It isn’t easy. | Glen David Gold | February 18, 2021 | Washington PostWhich means that every Republican, no matter their true inclinations, winds up acting like the grifters and nutbars who keep winning seats in deeply red districts.
Want to understand the GOP’s problem? Look at its newly elected extremists. | Paul Waldman | January 22, 2021 | Washington Post
To most of the world, billionaire Jeffrey Epstein is a convicted sex offender and a financial grifter.
Sleazy Billionaire’s Double Life Featured Beach Parties With Stephen Hawking | M.L. Nestel | January 8, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTRep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) is a grifter and a wingnut, but is he possibly a felon too?
Ethics Office Sees Evidence Republican Congressman Broke the Law | Ben Jacobs | June 11, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAfter a lifetime being raised by and working alongside his grifter father, Bob decides he wants out.
Of course, Bernard Madoff makes Mr. Ponzi look like a nickel-and-dime grifter.
In the story, she was christened “The Hipster grifter,” because she preyed upon skinny-jeaned Williamsburg sorts.
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