hustler
Americannoun
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hustlers
plural
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an enterprising person determined to succeed; go-getter.
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Slang. a person who employs fraudulent or unscrupulous methods to obtain money; swindler.
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Informal. an expert gambler or game player who seeks out challengers, especially unsuspecting amateur ones, in order to win money from them.
He earned his living as a pool hustler.
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Slang. a prostitute.
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a person who hustles.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of hustler
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:
Turturro is exactly the right actor to play an aging hustler in a cast rounded out by Steve Buscemi and Giancarlo Esposito.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 21, 2026
Stan Carlisle, a small-time hustler and the protagonist of the noirish tale “Nightmare Alley,” starts out as a card sharp, performing sleight-of-hand tricks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2025
On Instagram, he has been much more brash about his "Midas touch" - saying he is a "hustler" who works hard.
From BBC ● Jun. 21, 2025
So now I'm a writer and a hustler: coach, software entrepreneur, ghostwriter, teacher, juggler — my decision.
From Salon ● Oct. 14, 2024
I really have hustler friends and jazz musician friends—I’m becoming part of the two corners of Harlem that fascinate me most.
From "X: A Novel" by Ilyasah Shabazz
But the pair are just the latest in the long line of hustlers, fraudsters and canny opportunists who have been working to undermine science in this country for more than a century.
From Salon ● Aug. 13, 2026
Her videos feature a mix of her playing online and in person, including against New York's famed Washington Square Park hustlers.
From BBC ● Mar. 14, 2026
Kwiyup typifies a new class of self-styled entrepreneurs who might traditionally be called freelancers and side hustlers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 5, 2026
Yes, she’s poor and he’s rich, but they’re both hustlers — one way he flirts is telling Lucy he sees potential in her intangibles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2025
Some of the ablest of New York’s black hustlers took a liking to me, and knowing that I still was green by their terms, soon began in a paternal way to “straighten Red out.”
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
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.
