juggler
Americannoun
-
a person who performs juggling feats, as with balls or knives.
-
a person who deceives by trickery; trickster.
noun
-
a person who juggles, esp a professional entertainer
-
a person who fraudulently manipulates facts or figures
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.
When a juggler dropped the ball, literally, he played it off with a joke.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 30, 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
In these scenes, it’s hard to take your eyes off the glinting McAvoy, who’s like some fiendish juggler of items both benign and dangerous.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 12, 2024
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
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.
