grifter

Meaning

1. (US, informal) A con artist; someone who pulls confidence games; a swindler, scammer, huckster, hustler, and/or charlatan.
2. (Internet, colloquial, especially) A manipulator or otherwise generally corrupt person who "games" a system, group of people, or other entity for selfish gains; especially of a political "sell-out" perceived as lacking integrity.

Synonyms

defrauder

scammer

confidence man

gouger

swindler

chiseller

slicker

chiseler

crum

crump

drip

frog

🐸

fucker

gink

gook

heck

jerk

lowlife

low life

raff

riffraff

rip

rotter

schlep

schlepp

schmo

schmuck

schnook

scum

scut

sham

shit

💩

slime

so and so

son of a bitch

son of a gun

stinker

thug

trickster

turd

ratfink

scumbag

smooth operator

schmoe

mother fucker

scum bag

slimebag

scam artist

douchebag

sonofobitch

Translations

estafador

escurabutxaques

Abenteurer

Dreckskerl

Hundsfott

Schweinehund

Sumpfblute

- Arschloch

Abschaum -s

arnaqueur

aventurier

abbindolatore

baro

bidonista

trampós

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈɡɹɪftɚ/

Etymology

From grift + -er; or probably an alteration of grafter (“a corrupt person, one who accepts bribes”), which is essentially a doublet of the same word. Originally circus slang (carny; compare shill of similar semantics), gradually widened in sense. First attested in 1906; popularized online circa late 2010s.