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a gang of swindlers and mountebanks
claimed that many doctors were frauds and mountebanks
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'mountebank.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Mountebank derives from the Italian montimbanco, which was formed by combining the verb "montare" ("to mount"), the preposition "in" (converted to im, meaning "in" or "on"), and the noun "banco" ("bench"). Put these components together and you can deduce the literal origins of "mountebank" as someone mounted on a bench - the "bench" being the platform on which charlatans from the 16th and 17th centuries would stand to sell their phony medicines. Mountebanks often included various forms of light entertainment on stage in order to attract customers. Later, extended uses of "mountebank" referred to someone who falsely claims to have knowledge about a particular subject or a person who simply pretends to be something he or she is not in order to gain attention.
First Known Use: 1566
in the meaning defined at sense 1
See Words from the same yearcharlatan, fake, faker, fraud, hoaxer, humbug, impostor (or imposter), phony (also phoney), pretender, quack, ringer, sham;
ace, adept, authority, crackerjack (also crackajack), expert, maestro, master, past master, professional, virtuoso, whiz, wizard;
copycat, imitator, impersonator, mimic;
actor, bluffer, counterfeiter, deceiver, dissembler, duper, feigner, misleader, operator, trickster;
cozener, defrauder, dodger, scammer, sharper, sharpie (or sharpy), skinner, swindler;
circa 1616
: a dishonest person : a person who tricks and cheats other people
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