hoaxer
Professional leg-puller
A hoaxer is someone who perpetrates a hoax—a person who deceives others through fabricated stories, fake evidence, or elaborate pranks.
The term applies across contexts from harmless practical jokes to serious fraud: The hoaxer convinced thousands that aliens had landed.
Unlike a liar, a hoaxer typically orchestrates something more elaborate, often for attention or amusement.
Person who deceives for money
- charlatanFaker claiming false expertise
- impostorOne feigning another's identity
- scammerOne who defrauds others
- grifterPetty fraud perpetrator
fraudster · phony · faker · mountebank · flimflammer · quack · shark · cheat
One who tells untruths
- fabricatorCreator of lies
- falsifierOne who distorts truth
- dissemblerOne who hides beliefs
- prevaricatorOne who deceives verbally
storyteller · mythmaker · exaggerator · bluffer · deceiver · perjurer · fabulist · spinner
Cutup or wild card
- tricksterCunning deceiver in myth
- jokesterHabitual humor-maker
- practical jokerOne who pranks others
- mischief-makerOne who causes trouble
troublemaker · jester · wag · comedian · cutup · impish · roguish · April fool
swindler
Person who deceives for money
- charlatanFaker claiming false expertise
- impostorOne feigning another's identity
- scammerOne who defrauds others
grifter · fraudster · phony · faker · mountebank · flimflammer · quack · shark · cheat · counterfeiter
fibber
One who tells untruths
- fabricatorCreator of lies
- falsifierOne who distorts truth
- dissemblerOne who hides beliefs
prevaricator · storyteller · mythmaker · exaggerator · bluffer · deceiver · perjurer · fabulist · spinner · embellisher
joker
Cutup or wild card
- tricksterCunning deceiver in myth
- jokesterHabitual humor-maker
- practical jokerOne who pranks others
mischief-maker · troublemaker · jester · wag · comedian · cutup · impish · roguish · April fool · punk
snake
Limbless scaled reptile
- ratRodent or informer
- weaselSmall elongated predator
- sleazeballContemptible, unethical person
scoundrel · rogue · lowlife · creep · phony · fake · fraud · louse · heel · cad
- deceiversliar, liars, deceiver, fraud, fake
- swindlerscon artist, swindler, fraudster, scammer, grifter
- Conspiracy Theoriststruther, flat earther, anti-vaxxer, birther, 9/11 truther
- comedianscomedian, stand-up, comic, stand-up comic, standup comic
- impersonationimpersonator, mimic, imitate, imitation, impressionist
- cryptidsBigfoot, sasquatch, yeti, Nessie, Loch Ness Monster
hoaxertruth-teller
One who speaks accurately
fact-checker · whistleblower · debunker · truth-seeker · investigative journalist
hoaxerexpert
Highly skilled practitioner
authority · genuine article · straight shooter · master · virtuoso
- moon landing hoaxDenial of lunar missions
- viral hoaxWidely shared false claim
- literary hoax