huckster

American  

[huhk-ster] / ˈhʌk stər /

noun

1. a retailer of small articles, especially a peddler of fruits and vegetables; hawker.

2. a person who employs showy methods to effect a sale, win votes, etc..

   the crass methods of political hucksters.

3. a cheaply mercenary person.

4. Informal.

   1. a persuasive and aggressive salesperson.

   2. a person who works in the advertising industry, especially one who prepares aggressive advertising for radio and television.

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verb (used with or without object)

hucksters, present (3rd person singular) huckstered, past participle, past huckstering present participle

1. to deal, as in small articles, or to make petty bargains.

   to huckster fresh corn; to huckster for a living.

2. to sell or promote in an aggressive and flashy manner.

huckster British  

/ ˈhʌkstə /

noun

1. a person who uses aggressive or questionable methods of selling

2. rare a person who sells small articles or fruit in the street

3. a person who writes for radio or television advertisements

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verb

1. (tr) to peddle

2. (tr) to sell or advertise aggressively or questionably

3. to haggle (over)

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• hucksterism
  noun
• hucksterish
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• huckstering
  present
• huckstered
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• huckster
  simple
• hucksters
  simple
• have huckstered
  perfect
• has huckstered
  perfect
• am huckstering
  progressive
• are huckstering
  progressive
• is huckstering
  progressive
• have been huckstering
  perfect progressive
• has been huckstering
  perfect progressive

Past

• huckstered
  simple
• had huckstered
  perfect
• was huckstering
  progressive
• were huckstering
  progressive
• had been huckstering
  perfect progressive

Future

• will huckster
  simple
• will have huckstered
  perfect
• will be huckstering
  progressive
• will have been huckstering
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of huckster

1150–1200; Middle English huccstere (perhaps cognate with Middle Dutch hokester ), equivalent to hucc- haggle (cognate with dialectal German hucken to huckster) + -stere -ster

Explanation

A huckster is someone who tries to sell you something that's not very well made, or isn't worth the price. If someone tries to sell you a bottle of Love Potion #9, call him a huckster. While a huckster is primarily a seller of cheap goods, like the people who sell imitation luxury handbags and watches on city sidewalks, you can also use the word to talk about extremely pushy salespeople. If you feel so pressured to make an offer on a new car that you leave the dealership feeling frustrated and daunted, you might say, "There's no way I'm buying a car from that huckster."

Example Sentences

Lon Chaney plays a huckster circus performer who pretends to have no arms.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 7, 2025

MyPillow huckster Mike Lindell, freshly shorn of his walrus mustache, tried to debate a 12-year-old .

From Salon • Aug. 24, 2024

‘SHUCKED’ When the crop starts to fail in the small town of Cob County, an expert “corn doctor” arrives to help, but is he really a huckster?

From New York Times • Feb. 22, 2023

The man may a huckster, a jaw-droppingly error-prone candidate, and, as his opponent for one of Pennsylvania’s Senate seats has reminded us many times, a New Jersey resident.

From Slate • Sep. 7, 2022

I became a huckster like the ones that had fascinated me.

From "Milkweed" by Jerry Spinelli