con artist
noun
variants
or con man
or US confidence man
: a person who tricks other people in order to get their money
The couple lost their savings to a con artist who told them he was an investment broker.
Examples of con artist in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The actor's first lead television role was the USA Network’s police procedural White Collar, which starred Bomer as con artist Neal Caffrey (2009–2014).
—
Danny Horn, EW.com, 14 Apr. 2024
Scott, at his most creepy and conniving, plays Tom Ripley, a low-rent con artist in New York in the 1960s who gets the opportunity of a lifetime when a rich shipping magnate employs him to convince the man's wayward heir to come home and stop gallivanting across Italy.
—Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY, 4 Apr. 2024
This is prime time for con artists and shady tax preparers.
—Michelle Singletary, Washington Post, 3 Apr. 2024
The film’s original screenplay win came under scrutiny when David Maurer, author of the 1940 book The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man, about real-life con artists Fred and Charley Gondorff, filed a plagiarism lawsuit against screenwriter David Ward.
—Hilton Dresden, The Hollywood Reporter, 11 Jan. 2024
Many viewers also criticized its messaging about class politics, failing to adequately skewer the upper classes while depicting scholarship kid Oliver as a vampiric con artist.
—Anna Tingley, Variety, 11 Mar. 2024
Or con artists hide behind a fake FedEx notice that says there's a delivery problem.
—Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press, 2 Feb. 2024
But serial killers, spies, con artists, and criminals have also called the state their home.
—Alex Groth, Journal Sentinel, 21 Feb. 2024
The ‘Scam Likely’ season is a little different, focusing not on one particular con artist but on a group of people dedicated to stopping them.
—Emma Dibdin, New York Times, 19 Dec. 2023
Danny Horn, EW.com, 14 Apr. 2024
Scott, at his most creepy and conniving, plays Tom Ripley, a low-rent con artist in New York in the 1960s who gets the opportunity of a lifetime when a rich shipping magnate employs him to convince the man's wayward heir to come home and stop gallivanting across Italy.
—Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY, 4 Apr. 2024
This is prime time for con artists and shady tax preparers.
—Michelle Singletary, Washington Post, 3 Apr. 2024
The film’s original screenplay win came under scrutiny when David Maurer, author of the 1940 book The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man, about real-life con artists Fred and Charley Gondorff, filed a plagiarism lawsuit against screenwriter David Ward.
—Hilton Dresden, The Hollywood Reporter, 11 Jan. 2024
Many viewers also criticized its messaging about class politics, failing to adequately skewer the upper classes while depicting scholarship kid Oliver as a vampiric con artist.
—Anna Tingley, Variety, 11 Mar. 2024
Or con artists hide behind a fake FedEx notice that says there's a delivery problem.
—Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press, 2 Feb. 2024
But serial killers, spies, con artists, and criminals have also called the state their home.
—Alex Groth, Journal Sentinel, 21 Feb. 2024
The ‘Scam Likely’ season is a little different, focusing not on one particular con artist but on a group of people dedicated to stopping them.
—Emma Dibdin, New York Times, 19 Dec. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'con artist.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near con artist
Cite this Entry
“Con artist.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/con%20artist. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
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