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
Death at the hands of charlatans is not an inspiring storyline, which means publishers and film studios studiously avoid it.
—
Alan Levinovitz, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 28 Feb. 2025
Trying to keep the population safe from a novel infectious disease, battling to understand the virus, but also navigating people's suspicion of vaccines and science, and their desire to use bleach and ivermectin, egged on by charlatans.
—David Faris, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Apr. 2025
For them, the Nazarene is not a charlatan, but an upright man, one who has courage, who speaks well and says the right things, like other great prophets in the history of Israel.
—Daniel Burke, NPR, 9 May 2025
It was bought for $40,000 in 1937 by medical charlatan Norman Baker.
—Jack Schnedler, Arkansas Online, 5 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for charlatan
Alan Levinovitz, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 28 Feb. 2025
Trying to keep the population safe from a novel infectious disease, battling to understand the virus, but also navigating people's suspicion of vaccines and science, and their desire to use bleach and ivermectin, egged on by charlatans.
—David Faris, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Apr. 2025
For them, the Nazarene is not a charlatan, but an upright man, one who has courage, who speaks well and says the right things, like other great prophets in the history of Israel.
—Daniel Burke, NPR, 9 May 2025
It was bought for $40,000 in 1937 by medical charlatan Norman Baker.
—Jack Schnedler, Arkansas Online, 5 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for charlatan
Recent Examples of Synonyms for charlatan
Noun
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Meanwhile, the rise of AI and sophisticated fraud techniques means organizations are managing today's threats with yesterday's tools.—
Chris McHenry,
Forbes.com,
7 Aug. 2025
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The audit said the foundations’ inaccurate financial reporting raises the risk of fraud and misappropriation of funds.—
Kristen Taketa,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
6 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Flores also contends his Texans’ interview was a sham.—
Michael McCann,
Sportico.com,
14 Aug. 2025
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The quilt set comes with two matching shams and is 50% off in two sizes, but is selling fast.—
Jacqueline Tempera,
Better Homes & Gardens,
3 July 2025
Noun
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Mordecai, re-signed earlier in the day after a week on the street, fumbled after a play-action fake and finished 3-of-6 for 21 yards.—
Cam Inman,
Mercury News,
10 Aug. 2025
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Este, who worked in a restaurant, would comb through its stash of lost or confiscated IDs, searching for suitable fakes for her and her sisters.—
Hannah Jackson,
Vogue,
20 June 2025
Noun
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But the Bolts don't have enough pieces to go from pretenders to contenders.—
Robert Marvi,
MSNBC Newsweek,
16 Aug. 2025
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The signing of Isak, however, might have turned Arsenal from title pretenders to genuine contenders.—
Graham Ruthven,
Forbes.com,
28 July 2025
Noun
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Tell that to the kids who have been hospitalized and died from measles, following quack Dr. Bobby’s Rx to avoid the shots.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
29 May 2025
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The Spare Room by Helen Garner This is a book about a woman, Helen, who decides to let her old friend, Nicola, who is dying of cancer, come and stay with her in Melbourne while Nicola sees a local quack doctor.—
The New Yorker,
New Yorker,
21 May 2025
Noun
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Caricatured by Honoré Daumier and his lesser followers always as a mountebank, a charlatan, a circus clown, Louis Napoleon could normalize the extent of his outrages by the seeming harmlessness of his absurdities.—
Adam Gopnik,
New Yorker,
13 June 2025
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With tariffs on pharmaceuticals, the mountebank of Mar-A-Lago wants to punish a small democracy of 5.3 million people that for the past 60 years has worked its way into the top table of drug research and production: Ireland.—
Kevin Rennie,
Hartford Courant,
29 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Among those reports, according to the FTC, Customs and Board Protection impostors ranked as the fourth most common with 3,466 reports in the first four months of 2025.—
Susan Tompor,
USA Today,
30 July 2025
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And, of course, there was the impostor Case Keenum, a miscast backup, and the high-maintenance Russell Wilson, who hit the right notes off the field, especially in visits to hospitals, but never found his fit in coach Sean Payton’s offense or the locker room.—
Troy Renck,
Denver Post,
26 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Charlatan.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/charlatan. Accessed 22 Aug. 2025.
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