grifter
UK /ˈɡɹɪftə/ · US /ˈɡɹɪftɚ/ noun
Forms grifters
- noun (informal, originally Canada, US) A con artist; someone who pulls confidence games; a swindler, scammer, huckster, hustler, and/or charlatan.
- noun (colloquial, especially Internet) A manipulator or otherwise generally corrupt person who "games" a system, group of people, or other entity for selfish gains; especially of a political "sell-out" perceived as lacking integrity.
- noun (Internet, derogatory) A YouTuber or other content creator who produces low-effort content critiquing a particular franchise or trend, particularly content perceived as ragebait or done for monetary gain.
Synonyms
bristler bunco artist bunco-steerer chiseler con artist confidence artist confidence trickster conman flimflammer lugger magsman mountebank saltimbanco sharpster sharker shark-gull slicker smooth operator spiv swindler defrauder chiseller gouger scammer
Etymology
From grift + -er; or probably an alteration of grafter (“a corrupt person, one who accepts bribes”), which is essentially a doublet of the same word. Originally circus slang (carny; compare shill of similar semantics), gradually widened in sense. First attested in 1906; popularized online circa late 2010s.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “grifter”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details