grifter - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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 (carny; compare shill of similar semantics), gradually widened in sense. First attested in 1906; popularized online circa late 2010s.
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈɡɹɪftɚ/
- (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) IPA(key): /ˈɡɹɪftə/
- Rhymes: -ɪftə(ɹ)
grifter (plural grifters)
- (informal, originally Canada, US) A con artist; someone who pulls confidence games; a swindler, scammer, huckster, hustler, and/or charlatan.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:confidence trickster
1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep:
We're all grifters. So we sell each other out for a nickel.
1958, Robert Bloch, That Hell-Bound Train:
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.
2020 November 12, Megan O’Grady, “How ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ Foretold Our Era of Grifting”, in The New York Times[1], →ISSN, archived from the original on 2 July 2021:
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.
- (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.
2026 January 24, Michael Pascoe, “America’s mighty economic power has feet of clay”, in Michael West Media[2], archived from the original on 30 January 2026:
The latest act in the Madness of King Donald drama playing globally on every channel underlined the increasingly delusional world the anti-hero inhabits, his fantasies fed and indulged by a cast of sycophants, lackeys and straight grifters, all in it for what they can get.
2026 June 3, John Birmingham, “Neoliberalism ate the world. Enter: Pauline Hanson”, in Crikey[3]:
That tiny blue slice is what’s left of the Coalition (both Liberals and Nationals), squeezed between the teals and a barbarian horde of mouthbreathers, grifters and flat-out, flat-earth fucking weirdos gathered under the bright-orange war banner of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation — or, as they would officially henceforth be known, His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition.
- (Internet, derogatory) A YouTuber or other content creator who produces low-effort content critiquing a particular franchise or trend, particularly content perceived as ragebait or done for monetary gain.
2026 April 6, Jerimiah, “Op-Ed: The Modern Snake Oil of Grifter Critics”, in The Fandomentals[4]:
But with changing technology, criticism has entered a new era thanks to YouTube and live streaming. In the middle of all this growth is a pseudo-intellectual fungus which seems to be spreading rapidly. In my article about Box Office numbers I mentioned the phrase “grifter critic”.
Political "sell-out" perceived as lacking integrity
- “grifter”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
grifter