mountebank
Fraudulent medicine seller
A mountebank is a person who deceives others, especially to sell worthless products or dubious remedies.
The word originally described traveling charlatans who mounted benches in public squares to hawk miracle cures.
Now it applies broadly to any fraud or impostor: The senator dismissed his opponent as a mountebank peddling false promises.
Person who deceives for money
- conmanFraud who deceives for profit
- fakerOne who pretends
- deceiverOne who tricks others
- pretenderIllegitimate claimant to power
trickster · fraud · cheat · schemer · hoaxer · grifter · flimflammer · shyster
Roving small-goods merchant
- pitchmanPersuasive product demonstrator
- barkerShow entrance promoter
- shillFraudster's fake customer
- hawkerRoving vocal merchant
spieler · crier · platform · crowd · pitch · patter · spiel · audience
Deliberate deception or fraud
- deceitDeliberate misleading of others
- duperyCalculated misleading of another
- impostureDeception through false identity
- swindleDeception for financial gain
con · hoax · bamboozle · subterfuge · chicanery · guile · artifice · sleight
Bogus methodology posing as factual
- snake-oilFraudulent cure-all
- nostrumUnproven pet remedy
- cure-allSupposed universal remedy
- elixirMythical healing draught
tonic · remedy · patent medicine · placebo · miracle cure · apothecary · herbalist · healer
swindler
Person who deceives for money
pretender · trickster · fraud · cheat · schemer · hoaxer · grifter · flimflammer · shyster · confidence man
peddler
Roving small-goods merchant
hawker · spieler · crier · platform · crowd · pitch · patter · spiel · audience · marketplace
trickery
Deliberate deception or fraud
- deceitDeliberate misleading of others
- duperyCalculated misleading of another
- impostureDeception through false identity
swindle · con · hoax · bamboozle · subterfuge · chicanery · guile · artifice · sleight · ruse
pseudoscience
Bogus methodology posing as factual
elixir · tonic · remedy · patent medicine · placebo · miracle cure · apothecary · herbalist · healer · practitioner
performance
Carrying out a task
- spectacleVisually striking event
- showmanDramatic, attention-grabbing performer
- costumeClothing for portrayal
stage · act · persona · flourish · dramatic · flamboyance · bombast · grandstanding · bravado · bluster
mountebanktruth-teller
One who speaks accurately
straight shooter · genuine article · honest broker · authentic