"grifter" meaning in All languages combined

See grifter on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

IPA: /ˈɡɹɪftɚ/ [General-American], /ˈɡɹɪftə/ [General-Australian, Received-Pronunciation] Forms: grifters [plural]
Etymology: From grift + -er; or probably an alteration of grafter (“a corrupt person, one who accepts bribes”), which is essentially a doublet of the same word. Originally circus slang, gradually widened in sense. First attested in 1906. Etymology templates: {{suf|en|grift|er|id2=agent noun}} grift + -er, {{m|en|grafter|t=a corrupt person, one who accepts bribes}} grafter (“a corrupt person, one who accepts bribes”), {{doublet|en|nocap=1}} doublet, {{etydate/the|1906}} 1906, {{etydate|1906}} First attested in 1906. Head templates: {{en-noun}} grifter (plural grifters)
  1. (informal, originally Canada, US) A con artist; someone who pulls confidence games; a swindler, scammer, huckster, hustler, and/or charlatan. Tags: US, informal Categories (topical): People Synonyms: confidence trickster Translations (con artist): hochsztapler [masculine] (Polish), hochsztaplerka [feminine] (Polish), naciągacz [masculine] (Polish), naciągaczka [feminine] (Polish)
    Sense id: en-grifter-en-noun-cqLzWRBO Disambiguation of People: 49 51 Categories (other): American English, Canadian English, English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with topic categories using raw markup, English terms suffixed with -er (agent noun) Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 82 18 Disambiguation of English entries with topic categories using raw markup: 88 12 Disambiguation of English terms suffixed with -er (agent noun): 86 14 Disambiguation of 'con artist': 94 6
  2. (colloquial, especially Internet) A manipulator or otherwise generally corrupt person who "games" a system, group of people, or other entity for selfish gains; especially of a political "sell-out" perceived as lacking integrity. Tags: Internet, colloquial, especially Categories (topical): Internet, People
    Sense id: en-grifter-en-noun-CfwQeY0t Disambiguation of People: 49 51

Noun [Swedish]

Head templates: {{head|sv|noun form}} grifter
  1. indefinite plural of grift Tags: form-of, indefinite, plural Form of: grift
    Sense id: en-grifter-sv-noun-aXyluHjE Categories (other): Swedish entries with incorrect language header

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for grifter meaning in All languages combined (5.6kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "grift",
        "3": "er",
        "id2": "agent noun"
      },
      "expansion": "grift + -er",
      "name": "suf"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "grafter",
        "t": "a corrupt person, one who accepts bribes"
      },
      "expansion": "grafter (“a corrupt person, one who accepts bribes”)",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "nocap": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "doublet",
      "name": "doublet"
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      "args": {
        "1": "1906"
      },
      "expansion": "1906",
      "name": "etydate/the"
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    {
      "args": {
        "1": "1906"
      },
      "expansion": "First attested in 1906.",
      "name": "etydate"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From grift + -er; or probably an alteration of grafter (“a corrupt person, one who accepts bribes”), which is essentially a doublet of the same word. Originally circus slang, gradually widened in sense. First attested in 1906.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "grifters",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "grifter (plural grifters)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Canadian English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "82 18",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
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            "Entry maintenance"
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          "_dis": "88 12",
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          "_dis": "86 14",
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        {
          "_dis": "49 51",
          "kind": "topical",
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          "name": "People",
          "orig": "en:People",
          "parents": [
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            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep",
          "text": "We're all grifters. So we sell each other out for a nickel.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1958, Robert Bloch, That Hell-Bound Train",
          "text": "That was the train the drunks and the sinners rode—the gambling men and the grifters, the big-time spenders, the skirt-chasers, and all the jolly crew.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2020 November 12, Megan O’Grady, “How ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ Foretold Our Era of Grifting”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
          "text": "From the small-time grifters like Anna Sorokin, who adopted the last name Delvey to masquerade in downtown New York circles as a European heiress for four years before she was convicted of second-degree grand larceny in 2019, […] all impostors come equipped with a tall tale and a look to match.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A con artist; someone who pulls confidence games; a swindler, scammer, huckster, hustler, and/or charlatan."
      ],
      "id": "en-grifter-en-noun-cqLzWRBO",
      "links": [
        [
          "Canada",
          "Canada"
        ],
        [
          "US",
          "American English"
        ],
        [
          "con artist",
          "con artist"
        ],
        [
          "confidence game",
          "confidence game"
        ],
        [
          "swindler",
          "swindler"
        ],
        [
          "scammer",
          "scammer"
        ],
        [
          "huckster",
          "huckster"
        ],
        [
          "hustler",
          "hustler"
        ],
        [
          "charlatan",
          "charlatan"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal, originally Canada, US) A con artist; someone who pulls confidence games; a swindler, scammer, huckster, hustler, and/or charlatan."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "confidence trickster"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "informal"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "94 6",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "con artist",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "hochsztapler"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "94 6",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "con artist",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "hochsztaplerka"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "94 6",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "con artist",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "naciągacz"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "94 6",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "con artist",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "naciągaczka"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Internet",
          "orig": "en:Internet",
          "parents": [
            "Computing",
            "Networking",
            "Technology",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "49 51",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
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          "orig": "en:People",
          "parents": [
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A manipulator or otherwise generally corrupt person who \"games\" a system, group of people, or other entity for selfish gains; especially of a political \"sell-out\" perceived as lacking integrity."
      ],
      "id": "en-grifter-en-noun-CfwQeY0t",
      "links": [
        [
          "Internet",
          "Internet"
        ],
        [
          "manipulator",
          "manipulator"
        ],
        [
          "corrupt",
          "corrupt"
        ],
        [
          "entity",
          "entity"
        ],
        [
          "sell-out",
          "sell-out"
        ],
        [
          "integrity",
          "integrity"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(colloquial, especially Internet) A manipulator or otherwise generally corrupt person who \"games\" a system, group of people, or other entity for selfish gains; especially of a political \"sell-out\" perceived as lacking integrity."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Internet",
        "colloquial",
        "especially"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɡɹɪftɚ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɡɹɪftə/",
      "tags": [
        "General-Australian",
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "grifter"
}

{
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sv",
        "2": "noun form"
      },
      "expansion": "grifter",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Swedish",
  "lang_code": "sv",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Swedish entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "form_of": [
        {
          "word": "grift"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "indefinite plural of grift"
      ],
      "id": "en-grifter-sv-noun-aXyluHjE",
      "links": [
        [
          "grift",
          "grift#Swedish"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "form-of",
        "indefinite",
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "grifter"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English 2-syllable words",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English doublets",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms suffixed with -er (agent noun)",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "en:People"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
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        "2": "grift",
        "3": "er",
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      "expansion": "grift + -er",
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    },
    {
      "args": {
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        "2": "grafter",
        "t": "a corrupt person, one who accepts bribes"
      },
      "expansion": "grafter (“a corrupt person, one who accepts bribes”)",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
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      "name": "doublet"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "1906"
      },
      "expansion": "1906",
      "name": "etydate/the"
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    {
      "args": {
        "1": "1906"
      },
      "expansion": "First attested in 1906.",
      "name": "etydate"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From grift + -er; or probably an alteration of grafter (“a corrupt person, one who accepts bribes”), which is essentially a doublet of the same word. Originally circus slang, gradually widened in sense. First attested in 1906.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "grifters",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
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  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {},
      "expansion": "grifter (plural grifters)",
      "name": "en-noun"
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  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "American English",
        "Canadian English",
        "English informal terms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep",
          "text": "We're all grifters. So we sell each other out for a nickel.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1958, Robert Bloch, That Hell-Bound Train",
          "text": "That was the train the drunks and the sinners rode—the gambling men and the grifters, the big-time spenders, the skirt-chasers, and all the jolly crew.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2020 November 12, Megan O’Grady, “How ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ Foretold Our Era of Grifting”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
          "text": "From the small-time grifters like Anna Sorokin, who adopted the last name Delvey to masquerade in downtown New York circles as a European heiress for four years before she was convicted of second-degree grand larceny in 2019, […] all impostors come equipped with a tall tale and a look to match.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A con artist; someone who pulls confidence games; a swindler, scammer, huckster, hustler, and/or charlatan."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Canada",
          "Canada"
        ],
        [
          "US",
          "American English"
        ],
        [
          "con artist",
          "con artist"
        ],
        [
          "confidence game",
          "confidence game"
        ],
        [
          "swindler",
          "swindler"
        ],
        [
          "scammer",
          "scammer"
        ],
        [
          "huckster",
          "huckster"
        ],
        [
          "hustler",
          "hustler"
        ],
        [
          "charlatan",
          "charlatan"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal, originally Canada, US) A con artist; someone who pulls confidence games; a swindler, scammer, huckster, hustler, and/or charlatan."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "confidence trickster"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "informal"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English colloquialisms",
        "en:Internet"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A manipulator or otherwise generally corrupt person who \"games\" a system, group of people, or other entity for selfish gains; especially of a political \"sell-out\" perceived as lacking integrity."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Internet",
          "Internet"
        ],
        [
          "manipulator",
          "manipulator"
        ],
        [
          "corrupt",
          "corrupt"
        ],
        [
          "entity",
          "entity"
        ],
        [
          "sell-out",
          "sell-out"
        ],
        [
          "integrity",
          "integrity"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(colloquial, especially Internet) A manipulator or otherwise generally corrupt person who \"games\" a system, group of people, or other entity for selfish gains; especially of a political \"sell-out\" perceived as lacking integrity."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Internet",
        "colloquial",
        "especially"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɡɹɪftɚ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɡɹɪftə/",
      "tags": [
        "General-Australian",
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "con artist",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "hochsztapler"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "con artist",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "hochsztaplerka"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "con artist",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "naciągacz"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "con artist",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "naciągaczka"
    }
  ],
  "word": "grifter"
}

{
  "head_templates": [
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        "2": "noun form"
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      "expansion": "grifter",
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  "lang": "Swedish",
  "lang_code": "sv",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Swedish entries with incorrect language header",
        "Swedish non-lemma forms",
        "Swedish noun forms"
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        "indefinite plural of grift"
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          "grift#Swedish"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "form-of",
        "indefinite",
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "grifter"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-10 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (a644e18 and edd475d). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.