confidence man
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of confidence man
An Americanism dating back to 1840–50
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.
Prosecutors, though, said Tunstall’s behavior was “tantamount to the historic traveling confidence man, pitching a shingle in a new community until discovery, and then moving on to engage in similar fraudulent conduct.”
From Seattle Times • Jul. 16, 2023
Manson was clever and glib, a stir-wise and sophisticated confidence man who exploited the human material and social climate in order to achieve his ends.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 4, 2017
The innovator has always been part savior, part confidence man.
From Salon • Jul. 11, 2015
“It just goes to show that the hallmark of a great confidence man is effortless deception,” Bush told the Herald.
From Washington Post • Jun. 28, 2015
He’d become Kaz Brekker, cripple and confidence man, bastard of the Barrel.
From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
