trickster

[trik-ster]

noun

1. a deceiver; cheat; fraud.

2. a person who plays tricks.

3. 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.

trickster

/ ˈtrɪkstə /

noun

1. a person who deceives or plays tricks

Other Word Forms

• trickstering noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of trickster¹

First recorded in 1705–15; trick + -ster

Example Sentences

The player gets played only when Dawson is challenged by a trickster even more devious than her.

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Not exercising responsibility for safeguarding the property of the evacuees allowed “an interval of golden opportunity to swindlers and tricksters who had a terrified group of people at their mercy,” according to the apology.

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Tall tales: Dylan the trickster conspired with Scorsese to make up stuff according to whim.

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His rhymes are intermittently clever and the chorus contains several sticky hooks, but that fresh, benevolent trickster’s energy that made “Old Town Road” feel so ahead of the curve still remains an elusive quantity.

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Matt Sanchez, president and general manager of Yahoo Home Ecosystem, said the company is just trying to stay a step ahead of the tricksters.

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Related Words

• con artist