as in fraud
one who makes false claims of identity or expertise
the famed faith healer turned out to be a charlatan
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of charlatan
The 1886 hotel was once an experimental hospital set up by infamous charlatan Norman Baker.
—
Noreen Kompanik, Boston Herald, 26 Oct. 2025
Malcolm McDowell is a sneering charlatan, Scout Taylor-Compton is a one-note screaming victim, and Tyler Mane offers nothing new.
—Chris Snellgrove, Entertainment Weekly, 25 Oct. 2025
Professional historians denounced Fomenko as a charlatan, but his countless fans remained undeterred.
—Foreign Affairs, 21 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
Noreen Kompanik, Boston Herald, 26 Oct. 2025
Malcolm McDowell is a sneering charlatan, Scout Taylor-Compton is a one-note screaming victim, and Tyler Mane offers nothing new.
—Chris Snellgrove, Entertainment Weekly, 25 Oct. 2025
Professional historians denounced Fomenko as a charlatan, but his countless fans remained undeterred.
—Foreign Affairs, 21 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
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One Minnesota federal prosecutor last summer estimated that the total fraud across several programs could exceed $9 billion.—
STEVE KARNOWSKI THE ASSOCIATED PRESS,
Arkansas Online,
27 Feb. 2026
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In Minneapolis, Minnesota, a home healthcare agency named Twin Cities Care Services received $116,000 in reimbursements over just two months in 2024, even though the business was busted eight years earlier for Medicaid fraud.—
Mia Cathell,
The Washington Examiner,
27 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Pair with matching shams for a complete bedscape.—
Yelena Moroz Alpert,
Architectural Digest,
23 Feb. 2026
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When one of their victims realized the sham and sought legitimate legal counsel, the defendants sent him messages threatening deportation, court documents show.—
Colin Mixson,
New York Daily News,
21 Feb. 2026
Noun
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The letter to Hull in which Pender allegedly confessed to committing the murders was later deemed a fake, with Hull himself admitting that his cellmate wrote it.—
Randall Colburn,
Entertainment Weekly,
20 Feb. 2026
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Founder Sherille Riley, who previously worked as a facialist for high-end brands like La Prairie and Crème de la Mer, had until recently struggled to shop for K-beauty in person and initially bought the products online – only to run the risk of long shipping times or unknowingly buying a fake.—
Kati Chitrakorn,
CNN Money,
19 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Schlossberg spoke at the Democratic National Convention in 2024 as JFK’s grandson, the implicit message of his speech being that Kennedy followers ought to listen to Democrats, as true heirs to Camelot, rather than the pretender, RFK Jr.—
Jonathan Chait,
The Atlantic,
10 Feb. 2026
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The Cult of the Beaver has to fend off pretenders.—
AJ Willingham,
AJC.com,
13 Jan. 2026
Noun
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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
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But let’s circle back to TV‘s patron saint of affable, oft–insidious quacks.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
16 Dec. 2025
Noun
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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
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Islamic eschatology warned of a deceiver who distorts perception, blurring reality.—
Kaif Shaikh,
Interesting Engineering,
15 Aug. 2025
Noun
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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
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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
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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 1 Mar. 2026.
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