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
Relevance
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
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
Famously, the Wizard is a charlatan in every version of the text.
—Bethy Squires, Vulture, 30 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for charlatan
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
Famously, the Wizard is a charlatan in every version of the text.
—Bethy Squires, Vulture, 30 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for charlatan
Recent Examples of Synonyms for charlatan
Noun
-
Americans for Prosperity sponsored a striking display in the DECC’s Pioneer Hall, demonstrating the scale of the state’s fraud losses with faux $100 bills stacked in volumes that would total $2 billion.—
Jay Gabler,
Twin Cities,
30 May 2026
-
The authors then matched high-fraud ZIP codes to areas with fast-appreciating home prices.—
Tristan Bove,
Fortune,
29 May 2026
Noun
-
The controversial $500,000 portion of PFAS money allocation scheme is a sham and undermines the public trust (Tamarac finds a $500,000 slush fund, editorial, May 21).—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
28 May 2026
-
This quilt and shams set is reversible, lightweight, high-quality, and breathable.—
Tamim Alnuweiri,
InStyle,
28 May 2026
Noun
-
Thirty-four years having passed since the last go-round, we are treated to such modern advances as catfishing, drones, deep fakes, social media and pushy true-crime podcasters.—
Robert Lloyd,
Los Angeles Times,
4 June 2026
-
McKenna is extremely shifty with the puck, blending shoulder fakes into his playmaking.—
Scott Wheeler,
New York Times,
3 June 2026
Noun
-
Is the team a contender, a pretender or rebuilding?—
Law Murray,
New York Times,
18 May 2026
-
Now, hardship seems to be an end in itself, a battle scar or badge of honor that distinguishes true backpackers from mere pretenders.—
Tim Brinkhof,
Time,
4 May 2026
Noun
-
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
-
But let’s circle back to TV‘s patron saint of affable, oft–insidious quacks.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
16 Dec. 2025
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
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
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
Cite this Entry
“Charlatan.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/charlatan. Accessed 8 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
