Dictionary

grifter en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈɡɹɪftə/ (Australia, Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈɡɹɪftɚ/ (General-American)

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 (carny; compare shill of similar semantics), gradually widened in sense. First attested in 1906; popularized online circa late 2010s.

Meanings

1. (US, informal) A con artist; someone who pulls confidence games; a swindler, scammer, huckster, hustler, and/or charlatan.
   • 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. 2020 November 12, Megan O’Grady, “How ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ Foretold Our Era of Grifting”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 02 Jul 2021:
   • 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. 1958, Robert Bloch, That Hell-Bound Train:
   • We're all grifters. So we sell each other out for a nickel. 1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep:
2. (Internet, colloquial, especially) 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.
   • 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. 2026 June 3, John Birmingham, “Neoliberalism ate the world. Enter: Pauline Hanson”, in Crikey:
   • 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 January 24, Michael Pascoe, “America’s mighty economic power has feet of clay”, in Michael West Media, archived from the original on 30 Jan 2026:
3. (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.
   • 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”. 2026 April 6, Jerimiah, “Op-Ed: The Modern Snake Oil of Grifter Critics”, in The Fandomentals:

Forms

Deriveds

grifterness

Synonyms

bunco artist · magsman · lugger · conman · slicker · saltimbanco · sharker · mountebank · flimflammer · grifter · confidence trickster · bristler · shark-gull · sharpster · chiseler · con artist · spiv · confidence artist · smooth operator · bunco-steerer

Translations (4)

pl naciągacz (Political "sell-out" perceived as lacking integrity) · pl naciągaczka (Political "sell-out" perceived as lacking integrity) · pl hochsztapler (Political "sell-out" perceived as lacking integrity) · pl hochsztaplerka (Political "sell-out" perceived as lacking integrity)