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chancer

American

[chan-ser, chahn-] / ˈtʃæn sər, ˈtʃɑn- /

noun

Chiefly British.

a person who takes many risks.

chancer British

/ ˈtʃɑːnsə /

noun

slang an unscrupulous or dishonest opportunist who is prepared to try any dubious scheme for making money or furthering his or her own ends

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of chancer

First recorded in 1880–85; chance + -er ¹

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.

Mr. Powell radiates such manly American likability that it’s bizarrely out of character for him to play this ruthless schemer, even as an impish chancer.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 19, 2026

Flitcroft was front and back page news, with headlines celebrating the plucky chancer who had conned the R&A.

From BBC • Jul. 13, 2022

Even as a young woman my mother had always been a gallus thing: a chancer, gregarious, desirous of any shiny bauble.

From The New Yorker • Jan. 6, 2020

The Brits who lived through war and austerity and rationing were rewarded with the union of a Stakhanovite stiff and a handsome chancer.

From Slate • May 19, 2018

I don’t want the minds of these boys destroyed by that chancer up there on the platform, him handing out apple skins and causing diarrhea right and left.

From "Angela's Ashes: A Memoir" by Frank McCourt

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023