trickster
Americannoun
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tricksters
plural
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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:
Mr. Gill looks back at that 1992 interview and others and realizes that the Jeff Beck he thought he knew is a mystery, a self-contradicting trickster with a tendency to be witty and evasive.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
The work in question is a "maqāma" -- an Arabic literary form that often features a wandering "trickster."
From Science Daily ● Nov. 11, 2025
Tall tales: Dylan the trickster conspired with Scorsese to make up stuff according to whim.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 11, 2024
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
It’s hard for me to reconcile this Nansi with the trickster from the stories Ama used to tell me.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
"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
What kind of tricksters invited accusers to examine them up close?
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
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.
