trickster
Americannoun
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a deceiver; cheat; fraud.
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a person who plays tricks.
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a supernatural figure appearing in various guises and typically engaging in mischievous activities, important in the folklore and mythology of many primitive peoples and usually conceived as a culture hero.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of trickster
Explanation
Someone who likes to play jokes or tell fibs is a trickster. If you're a trickster, your favorite holiday is probably April Fools' Day. While we commonly use the noun trickster for anyone who plays pranks or cons you out of a dollar, the trickster is also a classic character in mythology and folklore. These trickster figures are usually smart and canny rule breakers. In Greek mythology, Hermes is often seen as a trickster, and in West African stories, a spider named Anansi is the epitome of the trickster.
Vocabulary lists containing trickster
STAAR English II: Elements of Literature 2
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Lesson 3
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Craft and Structure Vocabulary, Unit 5
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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:
But the scares were middling to begin with because Øvredal — a game but overeager trickster — telegraphs his set pieces as if he were equipped with a flare gun and detour cones.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 2026
Watching a trickster hypnotize someone in a live performance might impress you.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 13, 2025
The work in question is a "maqāma" -- an Arabic literary form that often features a wandering "trickster."
From Science Daily ● Nov. 11, 2025
Crudup plays 19 characters in the 80-minute performance, taking on the roles of everyone the titular confidence trickster comes into contact with.
From BBC ● Mar. 14, 2024
Something Nyame said back when he’d confined the still-complaining trickster god.
From "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" by Kwame Mbalia
"Ravens have fascinated people forever," Marzluff said, noting the birds have been considered everything from "creators and tricksters" to "opportunistic pests."
From Barron's ● Mar. 12, 2026
And they told stories about characters like Br’er Rabbit and Anansi, tricksters who provided models for overcoming powerful oppressors.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 15, 2026
But although screening at publishers is helpful, the arms race between screening methods and tricksters means it is unlikely to stem the tide of problematic papers entirely.
From Science Magazine ● May 31, 2024
There are ways to avoid these loathsome tricksters.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 30, 2023
The problem with tricksters is that they think everyone is playing the same games.
From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri
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.
