con artist

a person who tricks or cheats others (a criminal)

TRANSLATION

con artist: der Betrüger the con: die Schwindelei to con: betrügen

STATISTICS

IN THE PRESS

Brazil con artist sells Amazon rainforest -- The authorities in Brazil have begun an investigation into a man who's accused of conning foreigners into buying large areas in the Amazon rainforest with false land titles.

(BBC News - Monday, 8 January, 2001)

Did you
know?

"Con" is derived from confidence.

The verb "to con" means to swindle, to trick, to cheat.

A "confidence trick" is a swindle which relies upon first winning the confidence of the victim. This is quite an "art", hence the phrase "con artist".

Date: 1896

Synonyms:

cheater, con man, crook, deceiver, fleecer, flimflammer, fraud, hustler, mountebank, scam artist, scammer, shark, smoothie, swindler

More Word Quizzes: