charlatan

noun

ˈshär-lə-tən How to pronounce charlatan (audio)
Definition of charlatannext
as in fraud
one who makes false claims of identity or expertise the famed faith healer turned out to be a charlatan

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of charlatan Carl Sagan's baloney detection kit taught us how to separate good science from the work of charlatans. — Big Think, 10 Feb. 2026 First up was Ben Shapiro, who described Tucker Carlson and others as grifters and charlatans, guilty of misleading their audiences with falsehoods and conspiracy theories. — Jonathan J. Cooper, Fortune, 19 Dec. 2025 Macfadyen’s Guiteau is an obvious charlatan; a man so easy to peg as a bad seed that a bank manager remembers him from a single confrontation five years earlier. — Ben Travers, IndieWire, 6 Nov. 2025 The 1886 hotel was once an experimental hospital set up by infamous charlatan Norman Baker. — Noreen Kompanik, Boston Herald, 26 Oct. 2025 See All Example Sentences for charlatan
Recent Examples of Synonyms for charlatan
  1. fraud
  2. sham
  3. fake
  4. pretender
  5. quack
  6. deceiver
  7. mountebank
  8. faker
Noun
  • According to Hon Weng Chong, Cortical Labs founder and CEO, some potential applications include drug discovery, humanoid robotics, cybersecurity and fraud detection.
    — Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 21 Aug. 2026
  • In March 2025, the EPA terminated roughly $20 billion in Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund grants, with EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin alleging programmatic fraud and abuse.
    — Bloomberg, Mercury News, 21 Aug. 2026
Definition of fraud
Noun
  • Critics dismissed the polls, held in phases in December and January, as a sham designed to consolidate the military’s grip on power while ostensibly restoring civilian rule.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 17 Aug. 2026
  • Filling Decorative Pillow Shams Decorative pillow shams in guest bedrooms that get little use offer an easy way to repurpose old towels.
    — Olivia McIntosh, Martha Stewart, 16 Aug. 2026
Definition of sham
Noun
  • The second-round pass rusher made aggressive mistakes, falling twice for option fakes and overrunning a screen pass early.
    — Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald, 15 Aug. 2026
  • The flip side • Kudos to Finland for educating students in how to discern AI deep fakes!
    — Ticked Off, The Orlando Sentinel, 15 Aug. 2026
Definition of fake
Noun
  • The transfer portal can transform a contender into a pretender in a single offseason.
    — Mike Bianchi, The Orlando Sentinel, 6 Aug. 2026
  • The schedule is forgivable, even by ACC standards, but a rematch on the road against Notre Dame will separate the Canes as contenders or pretenders.
    — Austin Perry OutKick, FOXNews.com, 28 July 2026
Definition of pretender
Noun
  • DeSantis, his quack surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo, and Uthmeier are all faces of that paranoia.
    — Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 6 Aug. 2026
  • But when a patient recognizes him from his dangerous past, Brown has eight hours to elude the government, mob hitmen, quack surgeons, and a trail of dead gangers to beat the reaper somehow.
    — Rosy Cordero, Deadline, 18 Dec. 2025
Definition of quack
Noun
  • The actors are perfectly cast, starting with Marmaï’s likable Antoine, the only player here not being the deceiver.
    — Pete Hammond, Deadline, 12 May 2026
  • The film tells the true and twisted tale of a deceiver of land and folk, who, defying her birth as a woman, comported herself as a man and committed many a wicked deed.
    — Leo Barraclough, Variety, 20 Jan. 2026
Definition of deceiver
Noun
  • Good afternoon and welcome to Con Con, the convention for swindlers, mountebanks, and the people who love them.
    — Henry Alford, New Yorker, 1 Dec. 2025
  • Godard might have come across as a species of poseur – a pretentious, quote-spouting mountebank – but his way of seeing was genuinely new.
    — Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor, 13 Nov. 2025
Definition of mountebank
Noun
  • To tell the truly venomous from the fakers, there are a couple details to help distinguish the two.
    — Kirsten Fiscus, Nashville Tennessean, 17 Sep. 2025
Definition of faker

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Cite this Entry

“Charlatan.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/charlatan. Accessed 23 Aug. 2026.

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Nglish: Translation of charlatan for Spanish Speakers

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