juggler
Americannoun
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jugglers
plural
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a person who performs juggling feats, as with balls or knives.
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a person who deceives by trickery; trickster.
noun
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a person who juggles, esp a professional entertainer
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a person who fraudulently manipulates facts or figures
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of juggler
before 1100; Middle English jogelour, jogeler, jugelour < Anglo-French jogelour, jugelur, Old French jogleor, jougleor ( see jongleur) ≪ Latin joculātor joker, equivalent to joculā ( rī ) ( see juggle) + -tor -tor; replacing Old English gēogelere magician, cognate with German Gaukler, both directly < Latin, as above
Explanation
A juggler is someone who can toss and catch several objects at once, always keeping at least one of them in the air at any given moment. If you want to become a juggler, try juggling tennis balls instead of fiery torches. Watching a juggler perform can be awe-inspiring, especially if she's juggling knives or some other dangerous set of objects. You can become a juggler simply by learning to juggle, and professional jugglers can work for circuses or perform for money at festivals and street fairs. Juggler, jester, and wizard all once shared a meaning as well as a root, the Old English geogelere, "magician or conjurer."
Vocabulary lists containing juggler
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
In a league where job security these days ranks somewhere between knife juggler and gator wrangler, the 44-year-old Spaniard is one of only three managers even hired before 2024.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
Dating back to the late 18th century, “hoax” seems to derive from what a conjurer or juggler might say, a truncation of “hocus pocus,” utilized to divert the attention of an audience.
From Salon ● Dec. 28, 2025
There was a rock band, strobe lights, and a juggler.
From Slate ● Dec. 23, 2025
Before their careers in magic, Jillette was a juggler and Teller a Latin teacher, which allowed them the freedom to bring their diverse interests into their show.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2025
He looked inside and saw gathered there King Phillip, Queen Rosemary, the Princess Pea, twenty noble people, a juggler, four minstrels, and all the king’s men.
From "The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and a Spool of Thread" by Kate DiCamillo
Hollywood, however, is hardly squeamish when it comes to synchronized jugglers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 5, 2026
Circus Abyssinia: Tulu, a new production from the Ethiopian troupe of aerialists and jugglers, has a noon matinee at the New Victory Theater.
From New York Times ● Dec. 22, 2022
"Something we have seen is the disappearance of performers due to the bins overflowing. Normally the Grassmarket would be full of performers and jugglers."
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2022
These settings are sometimes populated by characters — clowns, jugglers, harlequins and the like — familiar to theater from Italian commedia dell’arte.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 19, 2022
Nate loved the sidewalk puppet shows and jugglers who spun torches on the street corners.
From I Survived the American Revolution, 1776 by Lauren Tarshis
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