mountebank
1 of 2noun
mountebank
2 of 2verb
transitive verb
William Shakespeareintransitive verb
Did you know?
Mountebank derives from the Italian montimbanco, which was formed by combining the verb "montare" ("to mount"), the preposition "in" (converted to im, meaning "in" or "on"), and the noun "banco" ("bench"). Put these components together and you can deduce the literal origins of "mountebank" as someone mounted on a bench - the "bench" being the platform on which charlatans from the 16th and 17th centuries would stand to sell their phony medicines. Mountebanks often included various forms of light entertainment on stage in order to attract customers. Later, extended uses of "mountebank" referred to someone who falsely claims to have knowledge about a particular subject or a person who simply pretends to be something he or she is not in order to gain attention.
Synonyms
Noun
- charlatan
- fake
- faker
- fakir
- fraud
- hoaxer
- humbug
- impostor
- imposter
- phony
- phoney
- pretender
- quack
- quacksalver
- ringer
- sham
Example Sentences
Will Jeakle, Forbes, 29 June 2021 American politicians, the pusillanimous and the mountebanks and even their opposites, used to be as highfalutin as Foghorn Leghorn with their gibes, which made politics fun for fans of Shakespeare, the Bible or obscure history. oregonlive, 31 Mar. 2020 He was ignored on almost every major issue by the incredible cast of fools and mountebanks with whom the president* has surrounded himself. Charles P. Pierce, Esquire, 13 Mar. 2018 Laying it off on senior administration officials will no longer fly given the liars, hustlers, incompetents, poseurs and mountebanks who dominate this West Wing. David Zurawik, baltimoresun.com, 9 Mar. 2018 The Presidency has hardly been free of mountebanks and worse. David Remnick, The New Yorker, 19 Jan. 2017 Word History
Noun
Italian montimbanco, from montare to mount + in in, on + banco, banca bench
Noun
1566, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Verb
circa 1616, in the meaning defined at transitive sense
Medical Definition
mountebank
noun
Shak.mountebankery
noun
Synonyms & Similar Words
- chicanery
- lying
- subterfuge
- trickery
- swindling
- jugglery
- skulduggery
- chicane
- fraudulence
- obliquity
- prevarication
- dupery
- wile
- treacherousness
- deception
- duplicity
- mendacity
- legerdemain
- skullduggery
- equivocation
- fib
- hypocrisy
- dishonesty
- fraud
- deceit
- crookery
- fakery
- crookedness
- cageyness
- cheating
- dissembling
- deceptiveness
- guilefulness
- craftiness
- insincerity
- dissimulation
- untruth
- cunning
- falsehood
- craft
- hanky-panky
- guile
- falsity
- sanctimoniousness
- cunningness
- shrewdness
- deceitfulness
- wiliness
- cozenage
- foxiness
- secrecy
- deviousness
- artfulness
- artifice
- double-dealing
- underhandedness
- two-facedness
- unscrupulousness
- furtiveness
- caginess
- smoothness
- covertness
- shadiness
- slipperiness
- sneakiness
- shiftiness
- slyness
- stealthiness
- slickness
- oiliness
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- sincerity
- artlessness
- frankness
- forthrightness
- ingenuousness
- good faith
- guilelessness
- candor
- openness
- directness
- reliability
- plainspokenness
- plainness
- honesty
- candidness
- probity
- dependability
- integrity
- solidity
- trustworthiness
- trustiness
- righteousness
- goodness
- truthfulness
- decency
- uprightness
- virtuousness
- reliableness
- incorruptibility
- trustability