juggler
Americannoun
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jugglers
plural
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a person who performs juggling feats, as with balls or knives.
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a person who deceives by trickery; trickster.
noun
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a person who juggles, esp a professional entertainer
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a person who fraudulently manipulates facts or figures
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
See Examples For:
Performance and illusion are recurring themes: A woman is sawed in half in a depiction of classic stagecraft; elsewhere a juggler manipulates ovoids that each contain an everyday vignette.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026
There was a rock band, strobe lights, and a juggler.
From Slate ● Dec. 23, 2025
With his many hats, Mothersbaugh is a consummate juggler, though he’s not sure how it all lines up in his head.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 11, 2025
So now I'm a writer and a hustler: coach, software entrepreneur, ghostwriter, teacher, juggler — my decision.
From Salon ● Oct. 14, 2024
He had a group of guys standing around watching him, like he was a juggler.
From "Tangerine" by Edward Bloor
Stilt walkers, dancers and jugglers with LED clubs entertained the crowds that came to see the spectacle, coordinated by Pontypridd-based Citrus Arts.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2023
Circus Abyssinia: Tulu, a new production from the Ethiopian troupe of aerialists and jugglers, has a noon matinee at the New Victory Theater.
From New York Times ● Dec. 22, 2022
These settings are sometimes populated by characters — clowns, jugglers, harlequins and the like — familiar to theater from Italian commedia dell’arte.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 19, 2022
In a training facility near the Budapest circus hall, the dancers, acrobats, jugglers and contortionists stretched and warmed up.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 24, 2022
I pass food stalls and dance stages, jugglers and fire-eaters, acrobats, Kehannis, singers, and players.
From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir
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.
