con man
54
4.7
- noun
- /kɒn mæn/
- Maybe he himself was a con man who'd never actually worked a day.
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Watch on YouTubeThere 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
146
3.9
A dishonest person who cheats or steals
119
4.4
A person who pretends to be something they are not to trick others
101
2.6
A person who breaks the rules or lies to get an advantage
62
5.1
A person who pretends to be someone else to trick people
50
2.6
A person who acts dishonestly to gain an unfair advantage
47
6.5
A person who behaves dishonestly and hurts others by lying or stealing
44
4.8
A person who tricks people by gaining their trust to take their money or valuables
34
8.6
A person who says they have special skills to trick people
23
6.0
A person who lies to or cheats others, often to have fun
19
4.0
A person who tricks others to take their money or things
14
5.4
A person who tricks people to take their money
11
5.5
A person who tricks others by making them believe something not true
6
8.1
A person who pretends to be friendly but secretly harms or tricks you
6
8.4
A person who takes advantage of others for their own benefit
4
6.7
A person who tricks people into believing something false for fun or attention
2
8.4
A man who tricks people by gaining their trust and taking their money
2
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
9.2
A person who tricks others to get their money
1
7.8
A person who tricks or cheats people, often as a joke
1
8.4
A woman who gains people's trust to trick them out of money
1
9.9
A person who cheats others with tricks or fake deals
1
7.9
A person who tricks others to take their money or things
1
9.9
A person who tricks people to get their money or things
1
9.9
A person who tricks others using clever talk to take their money
1
8.0
A person who controls others by charm or tricks
1
9.9
A person who tricks people into giving their money
1
8.7
A person who tricks others by saying things that are not true
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'.