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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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
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Cohen also pointed to her work leading a task force that was convened by court order following a massive fraud scheme involving charter schools in San Diego.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
1 May 2026
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The Timberwolves exposed the Nuggets as a fraud, a vapid former champion left as a chew toy in the mouth of hungry Wolves.—
Troy Renck,
Denver Post,
1 May 2026
Noun
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Use the matching shams with the same color as the quilt facing out for a cohesive design, or mix and match the shams and quilt for a layered look with dimension.—
Caley Sturgill,
Better Homes & Gardens,
29 Apr. 2026
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Etched with a cheery blue bouquet pattern on a soft yellow background, the comforter and matching shams give any room a spring makeover.—
Tanya Sharma,
PEOPLE,
26 Apr. 2026
Noun
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As news of the fakes reverberated around the art world, experts described the scheme as a classic of the genre — one that is far more prevalent than some in the industry would like to admit.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
29 Apr. 2026
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If a fingerprint or iris database is breached, a thief still needs to physically present that finger or eye, or a fake of it, to a scanner.—
Jonathan S. Weissman,
The Conversation,
28 Apr. 2026
Noun
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This is where hype turns into hard numbers, and contenders start getting separated from pretenders.—
Geoff Clark OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
25 Apr. 2026
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The alliance successfully supported Maria Cristiana, who was acting as regent for Isabella II in Spain and had allied herself with the liberals against the pretender Don Carlos in the First Carlist War (1833–39).—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
2 Apr. 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 3 May. 2026.
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