as in cheat
a dishonest person who uses clever means to cheat others out of something of value
carnival sharpers eager to relieve the yokels of their money
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
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 sharper
Yet as Russian war atrocities have become more evident, and Ukraine’s need for heavy armor has increased, the lines have grown blurrier and the rhetoric sharper.
—
David E. Sanger, New York Times, 25 Apr. 2022
Both offer blistering acceleration and sharper handling than the standard model.
—Eric Stafford, Car and Driver, 19 Feb. 2021
Where Super Mario 64 suffers is in its environmental textures, which don't appear to have been redrawn to look any sharper on higher-resolution screens.
—Kyle Orland, Ars Technica, 16 Sep. 2020
For example, there is the Butch Lewis Act, which has nothing at all to do with boxing but, rather, is a bill to protect private pensions from being looted by corporate sharpers.
—Charles P. Pierce, Esquire, 20 Jan. 2018
The payday-lending industry is a parasite on people who, for whatever reason, can’t establish themselves with the various sharpers in our mainstream banking industry.
—Charles P. Pierce, Esquire, 17 Jan. 2018
Other sharpers were Doc Frame, Major James S. Showers and Colonel Rickett, who ran the Senate Saloon.
—Darryl Levings, kansascity, 26 Jan. 2018
And the aboveground economy will remain the province of the unindicted sharpers who did such a great job with it in 2008.
—Charles P. Pierce, SI.com, 30 Sep. 2017
The sophomore from Colleyville has been a touch sharper on field goals than Jonathan Song in the fall practices.
—Carlos Mendez, star-telegram, 14 Aug. 2017
David E. Sanger, New York Times, 25 Apr. 2022
Both offer blistering acceleration and sharper handling than the standard model.
—Eric Stafford, Car and Driver, 19 Feb. 2021
Where Super Mario 64 suffers is in its environmental textures, which don't appear to have been redrawn to look any sharper on higher-resolution screens.
—Kyle Orland, Ars Technica, 16 Sep. 2020
For example, there is the Butch Lewis Act, which has nothing at all to do with boxing but, rather, is a bill to protect private pensions from being looted by corporate sharpers.
—Charles P. Pierce, Esquire, 20 Jan. 2018
The payday-lending industry is a parasite on people who, for whatever reason, can’t establish themselves with the various sharpers in our mainstream banking industry.
—Charles P. Pierce, Esquire, 17 Jan. 2018
Other sharpers were Doc Frame, Major James S. Showers and Colonel Rickett, who ran the Senate Saloon.
—Darryl Levings, kansascity, 26 Jan. 2018
And the aboveground economy will remain the province of the unindicted sharpers who did such a great job with it in 2008.
—Charles P. Pierce, SI.com, 30 Sep. 2017
The sophomore from Colleyville has been a touch sharper on field goals than Jonathan Song in the fall practices.
—Carlos Mendez, star-telegram, 14 Aug. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sharper
Noun
-
To his supporters, the bluff and feints were all tactics of a master negotiator taking on the world’s trade cheats.—
Laurent Belsie,
Christian Science Monitor,
11 Apr. 2025
-
In addition, in the Fall of 2024 the IRS-CI increased its efforts against wealthy tax cheats with actions against 1,600 taxpayers earning more than a million dollars a year which by July of 2024 had already brought in $1 billion in collections.—
Steve Weisman,
Forbes.com,
5 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
The layoffs of roughly 7,000 Internal Revenue Service probationary workers beginning this week probably mean the end of the agency’s plan to go after high-wealth tax dodgers and could spell disaster for revenue collection, experts say.—
Fatima Hussein,
Los Angeles Times,
21 Feb. 2025
-
The baseball world will look back at this era of dodger baseball 30 years from now and have nothing but fond memories and positive things to say about it.—
Fabian Ardaya,
The Athletic,
23 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
Steve is out to find the jaguar shark who killed his partner, but Klaus finds his own enemy in a Zissou fan (Owen Wilson) who believes the undersea documentarian is his dad. 10.—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
28 Apr. 2025
-
To see how small businesses are responding, Forbes reached out to 10 Shark Tank entrepreneurs across multiple industries, along with each of their celebrity sharks.—
Danielle Chemtob,
Forbes.com,
28 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
Its residents were the usual suspects—moonshiners, prohibition runners, alligator skinners, and plume hunters, who, at the beginning of the 20th century, were slowly decimating the bird population to support the fashion for exotic feathers in women’s hats.—
Stanley Stewart,
Travel + Leisure,
17 Mar. 2025
-
Inskip and her colleagues zeroed in on the medieval city of Winchester, which had not only skinners, tailors, and furriers, but also a hospital for leprosy patients.—
BySean Cummings,
science.org,
7 Aug. 2024
Cite this Entry
“Sharper.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sharper. Accessed 1 May. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share