Mountebank

Quick meaning: Mountebank is a noun meaning One who sells dubious medicines.

Meaning

One who sells dubious medicines.

More Meanings

1. One who sells by deception; a con artist.
2. Any boastful, false pretender.
3. (intransitive) To act as a mountebank.
4. (transitive) To cheat by boasting and false pretenses.
5. (obsolete) An acrobat.

Example Sentences

Donne was a mountebank who wrapped up his lack of meaning in hard words.

She is abus'd, ſtolne from me, and corrupted / By Spels, and Medicines, bought of Mountebanks

Gary Dahl, the man behind that scheme—described variously as a marketing genius and a genial mountebank—died on March 23 at 78.

It has been pointed out in this space before that a number of the titles you'll find shelved under self-help in your local bookshop are, on closer examination, farragos of wooden-headed tripe, written by mountebanks and halfwits.

Word Forms

• mountebanks
• mountebanking
• mountebanked

Synonyms for mountebank

Depending on context, synonyms include charlatan, conman, fake, quack, bristler, bunco-steerer.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include charlatan, quack, rogue, montebanc, mount, mounter.

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