con man
47
4.7
- noun
- /kɒn mæn/
:
estafador
- Maybe he himself was a con man who'd never actually worked a day.
There are still professional con men who will just try to RIP you off.
- There are still professional con men who will just try to RIP you off.
- So the way many cons work, it's not that the con man gets the victim to trust him, is that he shows he trusts the victim.
- Both of them were con men and Lou died in prison.
- You as a con man, that's who you were.
- And we, we see this with con men, multi level marketing.
- It's an internal thing and that's where the term con man came from, its confidence.
- You're either the con man or you're the person getting conned.
- And his predecessor says, a con man is succeeding me in Congress.
- Yeah, yeah, it's not a surprise because he's a con man, right?
- He also let we both loved, you know, sort of the con man type of shows he'd written that.
- He's a con man and Donald Trump is a con man.
- He sounds seems more like a serial grifter, serial con man, quite honestly, serial influence peddler.
- What does the media say about Jamaican yardis, Nigerian drug dealers, Nigerian con men, Muslim terrorists?
- A lot of con men have antisocial personality disorder.
- And when they do it to themselves, they are both the con man and the mark, right?
Examples
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It's hard to tell whether Ryan is a dreamer or a con man at this point.
Blog text (2) -
In a red hot real estate market, the con man hides in plain sight.
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I mean, the biggest con man this country has ever seen.
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Most con men have nothing and they can tell you a great story.
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This guy is a con man.
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Before they knew what had happened, the con men would have all their money.
Fiction book (1998) -
There are still professional con men who will just try to RIP you off.
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That's the mark of any good con man, knowing how to read his mark.
Fiction book (1994) -
Sure, he's a liar and a con man; that's how he got elected.
Blog text (7) -
He was a skilled con man who tricked people into investing in fake companies.
Synonyms
160
4.4
A person who pretends to be something they are not to trick others
153
3.9
A dishonest person who cheats or steals
112
2.6
A person who breaks the rules or lies to get an advantage
55
2.6
A person who acts dishonestly to gain an unfair advantage
51
6.5
A person who behaves dishonestly and hurts others by lying or stealing
50
5.1
A person who pretends to be someone else to trick people
40
4.8
A person who tricks people by gaining their trust to take their money or valuables
38
8.6
A person who says they have special skills to trick people
20
4.0
A person who tricks others to take their money or things
20
6.0
A person who lies to or cheats others, often to have fun
19
8.4
A person who takes advantage of others for their own benefit
15
5.4
A person who tricks people to take their money
13
5.5
A person who tricks others by making them believe something not true
13
7.9
A person who tricks others to take their money or things
5
8.1
A person who pretends to be friendly but secretly harms or tricks you
4
6.7
A person who tricks people into believing something false for fun or attention
3
9.2
A person who tricks others to get their money
2
8.4
A man who tricks people by gaining their trust and taking their money
1
7.9
A woman who tricks people into giving her money or valuable things by gaining their trust
1
7.9
A person who gets money by lying to or tricking people
1
7.8
A person who tricks or cheats people, often as a joke
A person who tricks people into giving their money
A woman who gains people's trust to trick them out of money
A person who tricks people to get their money or things
A person who tricks others using clever talk to take their money
A person who cheats others with tricks or fake deals
A person who tricks others by saying things that are not true
A person who controls others by charm or tricks
How Dishonest
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a man who deceives people' is directly and compositionally derived from 'con' (to swindle) + 'man' (adult male). This agentive combination follows a common English pattern (and parallels in many languages), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Con man comes from the older phrase confidence man. One popular story says a trickster would first win a person's 'confidence' by asking them to trust him with a small amount of money and then cheat them, so con man now means 'a man who deceives people by gaining their trust'.