as in fraud
one who makes false claims of identity or expertise
claimed that many doctors were frauds and mountebanks
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Recent Examples of mountebank
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
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
Gould observed that Jerry Falwell had taken up the mountebank’s mission of William Jennings Bryan.
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 26 July 2024
Now, this pallid Color Purple epitomizes the artistic dearth of an era when a cultural mountebank like Winfrey uses race and feminist guile to cheat us of America’s most creative achievements.
—Armond White, National Review, 3 Jan. 2024
The alternative circumstance, that crackpots and mountebanks might claim such evidence exists, then fail to produce any, is, on the other hand, entirely plausible and familiar.
—Timothy Noah, The New Republic, 31 July 2023
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
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
Gould observed that Jerry Falwell had taken up the mountebank’s mission of William Jennings Bryan.
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 26 July 2024
Now, this pallid Color Purple epitomizes the artistic dearth of an era when a cultural mountebank like Winfrey uses race and feminist guile to cheat us of America’s most creative achievements.
—Armond White, National Review, 3 Jan. 2024
The alternative circumstance, that crackpots and mountebanks might claim such evidence exists, then fail to produce any, is, on the other hand, entirely plausible and familiar.
—Timothy Noah, The New Republic, 31 July 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mountebank
Noun
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Police have so far arrested 38 people on accusations related to the complex, including manslaughter and fraud.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
20 Mar. 2026
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His two co-defendants have also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud but have not yet been sentenced.—
Julia Coin,
Charlotte Observer,
20 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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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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Carl Sagan's baloney detection kit taught us how to separate good science from the work of charlatans.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
10 Feb. 2026
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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
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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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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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 impostors have been presenting themselves as representatives of the Texas Department of Insurance's Division of Workers' Compensation.—
Doug Myers,
CBS News,
25 Feb. 2026
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Days later, a note was sent directly to the Guthrie family, allegedly from a man living in Hawthorne, that authorities now say was an impostor.—
Hannah Fry,
Los Angeles Times,
11 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Mountebank.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mountebank. Accessed 22 Mar. 2026.
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