View synonyms for

mountebank

[moun-tuh-bangk]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

a person who sells quack medicines, as from a platform in public places, attracting and influencing an audience by tricks, storytelling, etc.
Synonyms:
any charlatan or quack.
Synonyms: , ,

verb (used without object)

to act or operate as a mountebank.

mountebank

/ ˈ��ʊ�Գ�ɪˌ��æŋ�� /

noun

(formerly) a person who sold quack medicines in public places
a charlatan; fake

verb

(intr) to play the mountebank

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Other Word Forms

mountebankery noun
ˌ��ǳܲԳٱ�ˈ��԰�� noun

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Word History and Origins

Origin of mountebank¹

1570–80; (< Middle French ) < Italian montimbanco one who climbs on a bench, equivalent to mont ( are ) to climb ( mount ¹ ) + -im-, variant of in on + banco bench ( bank ² )

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Word History and Origins

Origin of mountebank¹

C16: from Italian montambanco a climber on a bench, from montare to _mount ² + banco _bench (see also _bank ¹ )

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Mencken described Bryan as “a charlatan, a mountebank, a zany without sense or dignity.”

From

“He was, in fact, a charlatan, a mountebank . . .” But, unlike Bryan and Trump, Kissinger had a deep sense of purpose.

From

The Republican, who is angling for the GOP nomination for president, staged a roundtable of scientific mountebanks on Wednesday to attack the vaccines.

From

Jay was so enamored of Malini that he devoted an entire chapter of his book, “Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women,” to the man he described as the “last of the mountebanks.”

From

In this world in which self-interested mountebanks command followers on social media and the airwaves by the millions, it doesn’t take much for a misinformation and disinformation campaign to cloud people’s minds.

From

Mount Desert Island mounted

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