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 Words From

• trickster·ing noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of trickster¹

First recorded in 1705–15; trick + -ster

Example Sentences

There’s even a family-friendly matinee for budding tricksters.

From Washington Post

Similarly, Loki became an instant fan favorite villain not only because of Tom Hiddleston’s over-the-top Shakespearean delivery of the trickster god’s lines but because he had a heart.

From Time

The marvel-filled narrative — 100 chapters in the original — derives from popular tales and dramas about a shape-changing trickster and proto-superhero who happens to be a talking monkey.

From Washington Post

Relative innocents who’ve come to seek their fortunes in the gold fields, Anna and Emery are soon waylaid by the savvy tricksters who flourish in such communities.

From Time

Online tricksters have already found ways to wreak havoc with the site’s own tools.

From Washington Post

His youngest son, Orange Scott, was a rough-and-tumble trickster and a terrible tease.

From The Daily Beast

Either it was unintentional or she is the smoothest trickster ever, because she never reacts to it.

From The Daily Beast

Mind-Blowing Bicycle Magic Trickster Tim Knoll is definitely the new cool kid in town.

From The Daily Beast

But as with everything Sugimotesque, I think his trickster self is at work.

From The Daily Beast

Elvira has recently been deceived by Giovanni—and decides to seek vengeance by publicly outing him as the trickster whom he is.

From The Daily Beast

These men charged him with being a political trickster, and won most of his followers away from him.

From Project Gutenberg

His lip curled contemptuously at sports that required a mere trickster's turn of the wrist or an animal's sense of direction.

From Project Gutenberg

Yes—and yet you accuse me of being a trickster, a scoundrel, and a fool, without knowing my works?

From Project Gutenberg

The expert trickster of large luck and large fortune makes his way to Monte Carlo, the gambling Mecca of the world.

From Project Gutenberg

He was, to undisciplined or envious opponents, a "little magician," a trickster.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• con artist