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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Republicans, who control half of the Minnesota House, pointed out that DHS failed to detect fraud for years.—
Mia Cathell,
The Washington Examiner,
14 Mar. 2026
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Ron Yukelson San Luis Obispo Agree with Times columnist Mirjam Swanson, Bam Adebayo’s a fraud!—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
14 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Bedsure Best Seller GentleSoft Pintuck Pinch Pleat For a one-and-done bedding upgrade, consider this set that includes sheets, a comforter, pillowcases, and shams, all for just $45.—
Jacqueline Tempera,
Better Homes & Gardens,
16 Mar. 2026
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The results may look deceptively simple—bed sheets, pillow shams, the occasional coverlet—but engrained in those thread counts are hundreds of years spent honing techniques and generations of families honoring lofty traditions.—
Audrey Lee,
Architectural Digest,
13 Mar. 2026
Noun
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The fake was wrong about Karimian, but by the time the Minab strike happened, audiences were primed to believe that a school was a legitimate military target, not the site of a civilian catastrophe.—
Mahsa Alimardani,
The Atlantic,
13 Mar. 2026
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In this clip, Simpson got his head around after the play fake, saw the backside underneath defender run with the through route.—
Ted Nguyen,
New York Times,
13 Mar. 2026
Noun
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These two pretenders reflect an insider debate whose subject is not the existence of the Islamic Republic but the best method of its survival.—
Karim Sadjadpour,
The Atlantic,
4 Mar. 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 20 Mar. 2026.
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