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Grifter

//ˈɡɹɪftɚ// noun, slang

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A con artist; someone who pulls confidence games; a swindler, scammer, huckster, hustler, and/or charlatan. US, informal

    "We're all grifters. So we sell each other out for a nickel."

  2. 2
    a person who swindles you by means of deception or fraud wordnet
  3. 3
    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. Internet, colloquial, especially

    "The latest act in the Madness of King Donald drama playing globally on every channel underlined the increasingly delusional world the anti-hero inhabits, his fantasies fed and indulged by a cast of sycophants, lackeys and straight grifters, all in it for what they can get."

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.

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