English Explanatory Dictionary

grifter

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A con artist; someone who pulls confidence games; a swindler, scammer, huckster, hustler, and/or charlatan.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.

Pronunciation

/ˈɡɹɪftɚ/ /ˈɡɹɪftə/

Word forms

grifter grifters

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.

Synonyms

bristler bunco artist bunco-steerer chiseler con artist confidence artist confidence trickster conman flimflammer grifter lugger magsman mountebank saltimbanco sharpster sharker shark-gull slicker smooth operator spiv

Derived words

grifterness
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