😏 A flirtatious man 🕵️ A deceiver

loverboy

9.2

A man who pretends to love someone to trick and use them

noun
/ˈlʌvərˌbɔɪ/

Offensive

: captador

Police investigated for several months and arrested her for turning a blind eye to the abuse her little girl began suffering when her loverboy moved in with them in September of 2009.

Examples

He played the role of a loverboy to manipulate her feelings, leaving her heartbroken and confused.
After discovering his true intentions, she warned others about the loverboy who had deceived her.
You're not going to talk your way out this one loverboy.

Kidnap Me (2017)
[ Loverboy ]

Zoolander (2001)
The woman realized that her friend was actually a loverboy who had been using her for his own gain.

Synonyms

whoremaster

vsloverboy

Offensive

1 9.9

A man who finds and controls people who sell sex and takes their money

uses false romantic interest to trick someone into sexual exploitation or prostitution

groomer

vsloverboy

Offensive

9.1

A person who builds trust with a child or vulnerable adult to sexually harm them

targets adults with fake romance to deceive and exploit for sex or money

Antonyms

honest

∞ 1.0

Truthful and fair, not cheating or lying

How Deceptive

predator

101 4.6

con artist

40 4.8

loverboy

Offensive

9.2

charmer

39 3.4

admirer

113 2.3

Surface Forms

loverboy singular

loverboys plural

Morphology

loverboy = lover + boy (semi-transparent) = lover + boy

The compound formation 'lover' + 'boy' is clear, but the specialized sense of deliberate deception and exploitation (criminal/sexual grooming) is a pragmatic extension not directly predictable from the components.

Etymology

The word loverboy comes from joining lover ('someone who loves') and boy ('young man'). A helpful way to remember the darker sense is to think of a man who acts like a loving partner to gain trust and then use the person, which is why loverboy can mean a man who pretends to be in love to take advantage of someone.