con artist

Definitions

A person who uses confidence tricks to defraud or swindle people after first gaining their trust with a series of confidence games; a scam operator, confidence trickster.

Equivalents

Examples

“That greedy con artist would swindle you at any cost⟳.”

“He's the FBI agent antagonist in Catch⟳ Me If You Can (2002) opposite a buoyantly charming young Leonardo DiCaprio as con artist Frank Abagnale, but his character is more of a determined cat to Leo's mouse than a real foil; he's simply a prim Eisenhower-era man with a job to do.”

“Leavers will be attracted to that story because it spares them the discomfort of admitting that they voted for a con, and then made a prime minister of the con artist.”

CEFR level