as in fraud
one who makes false claims of identity or expertise
claimed that many doctors were frauds and mountebanks
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of mountebank
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
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
Another was Charles Colchester, a mountebank who also conjured Willie to the satisfaction of the first lady.
—John J. Miller, WSJ, 30 Oct. 2022
Berk was no mountebank or philistine.
—Mimi Kramer, Vulture, 10 May 2022
Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 13 June 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
Another was Charles Colchester, a mountebank who also conjured Willie to the satisfaction of the first lady.
—John J. Miller, WSJ, 30 Oct. 2022
Berk was no mountebank or philistine.
—Mimi Kramer, Vulture, 10 May 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mountebank
Noun
-
New York Attorney General Letitia James asked a federal judge Friday to dismiss a mortgage fraud case against her, calling it a vindictive and politically motivated prosecution brought at the behest of a president who regards her as an enemy.—
Dave Smith,
Fortune,
8 Nov. 2025
-
Quick action can sometimes limit further loss or help investigators trace the fraud.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
8 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
In return, the WNBA would argue the decertification is a sham to facilitate antitrust litigation.—
Michael McCann,
Sportico.com,
31 Oct. 2025
-
For a bedding refresh, this duvet cover set is available in 26 colors and includes matching shams.—
Rachel Trujillo,
PEOPLE,
26 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
The King of Poland and the pretender to the throne of Sweden.—
Katie Wiseman,
IndyStar,
4 Nov. 2025
-
Week 10 kicked off the month with several examples of contenders and pretenders revealing themselves.—
Erick Smith,
USA Today,
3 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
The 1886 hotel was once an experimental hospital set up by infamous charlatan Norman Baker.—
Noreen Kompanik,
Boston Herald,
26 Oct. 2025
-
Professional historians denounced Fomenko as a charlatan, but his countless fans remained undeterred.—
Foreign Affairs,
Foreign Affairs,
21 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Why fakes — and how to spot them An information vacuum seems to have encouraged imposters.—
Lee Ying Shan,
CNBC,
9 Nov. 2025
-
Over the next three days, authorities say Buzzard appeared to swap wigs, trading fake, honey blonde curls for a darker wig closer to the style Melodee was seen in.—
Elizabeth Wolfe,
CNN Money,
8 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
Islamic eschatology warned of a deceiver who distorts perception, blurring reality.—
Kaif Shaikh,
Interesting Engineering,
15 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
As experts departed, quacks arrived.—
Charles Bethea,
New Yorker,
9 Sep. 2025
-
Medallion’s Derek Lo figures that his software can cut through the system’s redundancies, slashing the time and cost of paperwork designed to prevent quacks from practicing medicine and safeguard patients that’s spiraled into something burdensome.—
Amy Feldman,
Forbes.com,
20 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
In another film with a less happy outcome, the woman who claims to be the amnesiac’s wife is an impostor who ends up torturing him.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
24 Oct. 2025
-
McKelway, who wrote for the magazine from the nineteen-thirties to the sixties, specialized in true-crime stories, bringing to life a gallery of scamps and swindlers and impostors.—
David Grann,
New Yorker,
19 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Mountebank.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mountebank. Accessed 11 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share