trickster
Syllables: trick·ster/ˈtɹɪk.stə//ˈtɹɪk.stɚ/
trickster noun: any of numerous figures featuring in various mythologies and folk traditions, who use guile and secret knowledge to challenge authority and play tricks and pranks on others with their acts of trickery; any similar figure in literature.
Noun
trickster (plural tricksters)
- Any of numerous figures featuring in various mythologies and folk traditions, who use guile and secret knowledge to challenge authority and play tricks and pranks on others with their acts of trickery; any similar figure in literature.
- The trickster is one of the oldest and most widespread of mythological and literary figures. […] As the name implies, the trickster is, on one level—probably the most important—an amoral practical joker who wanders about playing pranks on unsuspecting victims […] With all the fluctuations, certain...1991, Alan R. Velie (compiler and editor), American Indian Literature: An Anthology, Revised edition, page 44
- And let us begin with those sympathetic elements, the tricksters who obtain the lovers and the land, always at the expense of fools and knaves, sometimes at the expense of other tricksters.2015, J. Douglas Canfield, Tricksters and Estates: On the Ideology of Restoration Comedy, page 31
- One who plays tricks or pranks on others.
- A skilled trickster knows how to outsmart their enemies with ease.
- One who performs tricks (parts of a magician act or entertainingly difficult physical actions).
- Our fellow trickster will perform some impressive magic tricks tonight.
- Synonyms:
- tricker
- An impish or playful person.
- A fraud or cheat (person who performs a trick or hoax full of falsehoods for the purpose of unlawful gain).
- That shady trickster faked being a psychic advisor to spread misinformation and gain profit.
- She's easy game for a trickster like him.
Verb
trickster (third-person singular simple present tricksters, present participle trickstering, simple past and past participle trickstered)
- To engage in the antics of a trickster; to play tricks.
trickster meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
trickster in Tamil
- trickster
- கில்லாடி killāṭi
trickster in Urdu
- a trickster, a sly, cunning or crafty person
- عیار 'ayyār
trickster in Malayalam
- cheat, swindler, fraud
- സൂത്രക്കാരൻ, അടവുകാരൻ, സൂത്രശാലി, കൃത്രിമി, ഇച്ചക്കൻ, മായികൻ
trickster in Kannada
- ಮೋಸಗಾರ
More languagesFewer languages
- trickster in Sanskrit
- मायिन् māyin
Examples of trickster in a sentence
- She calls him a trickster in the sense that he is “homeless and nomadic, absurd, mischievous and hoaxy.”
- Baraka was part trickster and part provocateur, a brilliant juggler of genres, ideas, and identities, whose career spanned nearly six decades.
- Here, too, Villon is the general trickster, endearing in a renardine way, since he always defies the established order.
Synonyms of trickster
Forms of trickster
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | tricksters |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | tricksters |
| present participle | trickstering |
| past participle | trickstered |
| past | trickstered |
Origin of trickster
From trick + -ster.
Words formed from trickster
Questions about trickster
- What does trickster mean?
- Trickster means any of numerous figures featuring in various mythologies and folk traditions, who use guile and secret knowledge to challenge authority and play tricks and pranks on others with their acts of trickery; any similar figure in literature.
- What is trickster in Tamil?
- Trickster in Tamil is கில்லாடி (killāṭi). See Trickster meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is trickster?
- Trickster can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce trickster?
- Trickster is pronounced /ˈtɹɪk.stə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of trickster?
- The plural of trickster is tricksters.
Words near trickster in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: trickster (page history and authors); கில்லாடி (Tamil) (page history and authors); عیار (Urdu) (page history and authors); trickster (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); trickster (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-trickster.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-trickster.wav.
Cite this entry: “trickster.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/trickster. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.