Synonyms of spiv
47 similar words
Another word for spiv is sharper. Other synonyms of spiv are chiseler, wide boy, bunco-steerer, charlatan and cheat.
Synonyms and similar words for spiv
nounA flashy con artist, often homeless, who lives by his wits.
- sharperA swindler; a cheat; a professional gambler who makes his living by cheating.
- chiseler
- wide boyA man who lives by his wits, wheeling and dealing.
- bunco-steerer US, slangA swindler; a cheat or con-man.
- charlatan
- cheat
- jackal
- cheater
- cozenerAn imposter, a swindler.
- defrauderOne who defrauds.
- finaglerA person who finagles; a cheat or swindler.
- fleecerA person who fleeces; a swindler.
- fraud
- fraudmeisterA person who commits fraud for profit.
- fraudsterA person who carries out fraud; a swindler.
- humbug slang
- grifterA con artist; someone who pulls confidence games; a swindler, scammer, huckster, hustler, and/or charlatan.
- gyp
- pickpenny
- rook
- scammerA person who commits fraud by making dishonest scams and business deals: swindler, cheat, grifter.
- scamp
- schemesterOne who carries out schemes; a fraudster.
- slicker
- spieler
- swindlerA person who swindles, cheats or defrauds.
- bunco artist
- con artistA person who uses confidence tricks to defraud or swindle people after first gaining their trust with a series of...
- confidence artist
- confidence tricksterSomeone who conducts a confidence game: who defrauds someone after winning his trust, a conman or con artist.
- conmanA confidence trickster.
- flimflammerA swindler; a con artist.
- lugger Australia, US
- magsmanA con man who tries to deceive members of the public.
- mountebankOne who sells by deception; a con artist.
- saltimbancoA quack doctor, a fraud.
- sharpsterA swindler; someone who is adept at conning others; a con artist.
- smooth operator
- goldbrick US, dated
- gull British, obsolete
- landshark obsolete, slang
- Scandaroon obsolete
- trapan archaic, obsolete
- trepan archaic, obsolete
- bristler obsolete
- sharker archaic
- shark-gull obsoleteA confidence trickster; a person who preys on simpletons.
Meaning of spiv
- noun A smartly dressed person who trades in illicit, black-market or stolen goods, especially during World War II.
- noun A flashy con artist, often homeless, who lives by his wits.
- noun A low and common thief.
Questions about synonyms of spiv
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: spiv (page history and authors) and the entries of the words listed. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws grouped the synonyms and antonyms by meaning and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “Synonyms of spiv.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/synonyms/spiv. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
