as in cheat
a dishonest person who uses clever means to cheat others out of something of value
the swindlers, representing themselves as land developers, produced a glossy brochure showing beaches, palm trees, and golf links
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Recent Examples of swindler
Good afternoon and welcome to Con Con, the convention for swindlers, mountebanks, and the people who love them.
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Henry Alford, New Yorker, 1 Dec. 2025
But he's been a swindler his entire life.
—Adeola Adeosun, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Nov. 2025
Serial swindlers and men prone to violence are among the seven people Colorado’s gambling regulators have banned for life from casinos since the state created a system last year for barring problem bettors.
—Noelle Phillips, Denver Post, 20 Oct. 2025
That the same actor who communicated infuriating brashness in Challengers and louche swindler energy in La Chimera is able to nail it with a character of such disarming sincerity in Dead Man is worthy of more than just passing notice.
—Joe Reid, Vulture, 16 Sep. 2025
The romance scam began in July, when the elderly woman, based in Hokkaido, connected with the swindler on social media, AFP and Sky News reported.
—Jillian Frankel, PEOPLE, 4 Sep. 2025
Meanwhile, posing as the original customer, the swindlers cancelled the order to get a refund.
—Thomas Brewster, Forbes.com, 27 Aug. 2025
Some swindlers thumb their nose at both and keep their cons going.
—Mike Hendricks, Kansas City Star, 14 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for swindler
Noun
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Others might feel the author cheats here, leaving it up to the reader to decide.—
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The movie follows a group of petty cheats, liars and drunks who are duped by nefarious opportunists who visit their crumbling town.—
Noun
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But my collection intentionally ignored the fraudulent exploits of billionaire heirs, tax dodgers and corporate magnates — defense contracts, government lobbying, bank accounts in Switzerland, shell companies in Panama, citizenship of Antigua and political asylum in London.—
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Denise Rich, a Democratic donor, gave four hundred and fifty thousand dollars to his Presidential-library foundation, and Clinton, on his final day in office, pardoned her ex-husband, Marc Rich, a tax dodger and a sanctions evader who’d fled to Switzerland.—
Noun
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Authorities in California confirmed last week that 55-year-old Erica Fox died from a shark attack.—
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Thirty sharks were added, too, before the exhibit opened to the public in April 2003.—
Cite this Entry
“Swindler.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/swindler. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
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