sharpers
Crooked card players
Sharpers is the plural of sharper, a somewhat old-fashioned word for a swindler or cheat—especially one who fleeces victims at cards or gambling.
The term implies cunning and predatory skill rather than brute criminality: The riverboats were full of sharpers looking to fleece naive travelers.
Those who defraud through deception
- fraudstersPeople who deceive for gain
- griftersPetty swindlers, confidence tricksters
- swindlersDeceivers who steal through trickery
- trickstersThose who mislead deliberately
scammers · charlatans · hustlers · cardsharps · cheats · flimflammers · mountebanks · bilkers
Intentional criminal trickery
- trickeryDeliberate deception or fraud
- conArgument against
- scamDishonest money-making scheme
- hoaxDeliberate deception for effect
swindle · dupery · chicanery · guile · subterfuge · sleight · flimflam · imposture
Cleverly deceptive
- shrewdPractically clever, perceptive
- craftyCleverly deceptive
- wilySkilled at deception
- schemingCrafty and calculating
calculating · guileful · artful · devious · canny · slick · astute · clever
Hearth implement for coals
- blackjackCard game to twenty-one
- cardsharpingCheating at games
- cheatingDeceptive rule-breaking
- hustleEnergetic, aggressive action
high-stakes · palming · mechanic · collusion
conmen
Those who defraud through deception
- fraudstersPeople who deceive for gain
- griftersPetty swindlers, confidence tricksters
- swindlersDeceivers who steal through trickery
tricksters · scammers · charlatans · hustlers · cardsharps · cheats · flimflammers · mountebanks · bilkers · shysters
fraud
Intentional criminal trickery
hoax · swindle · dupery · chicanery · guile · subterfuge · sleight · flimflam · imposture · artifice
sly
Cleverly deceptive
scheming · calculating · guileful · artful · devious · canny · slick · astute · clever · manipulative
poker
Hearth implement for coals
- blackjackCard game to twenty-one
- cardsharpingCheating at games
- cheatingDeceptive rule-breaking
hustle · high-stakes · palming · mechanic · collusion
- roguesrogue, rogues, scoundrel, scoundrels, rascal
sharperssimpletons
Unintelligent or naive people
naifs · innocents · greenhorns · ingenues · babes in the woods
- pencil sharpenersDevices that taper writing instruments
- sharpening stoneAbrasive for honing blades
- sharpening steelRod that realigns blade edges
- blade sharpeningRestoring a cutting edge
- tool sharpeningRestoring keen edges
- skate sharpeningRestoring ice blade edges
sharpen, sharper, sharpening, sharpened, sharpeners, unsharpened, resharpen, resharpens, resharpened