Meanings
plural banksters
- derogatoryinformalA banker who is seen as criminally irresponsible, or as extorting bailout money from the taxpayers.
Stop supporting bums abroad. Stop all foreign aid, which is aid to banksters and their bonds and their export industries.
1992 January, Murray Rothbard, “Right-Wing Populism: A Strategy for the Paleo Movement”, in Rothbard-Rockwell Report, page 91 more example
Hearing Sir Fred the Shred and the rest of them utter some hedged half-apologies has not made the public feel any warmer to the banksters.
2009 February 15, Andrew Rawnsley, “The cabinet's quarrels are a warning of the storms ahead”, in The Observer
Origin
Blend of banker + gangster. Popularized in the Pecora Commission (1932–1934) that investigated the causes of the Wall Street crash of 1929. The term was later used by Léon Degrelle, Belgian fascist politician and journalist, in 1937 as a pejorative term for high financiers.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
French bankster
- banksterTranslations
German Bankster
- BanksterTranslations
Polish bankster
- banksterTranslations
Cite this entry
bankster. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bankster
“bankster.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bankster. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bankster,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bankster.
Source: bankster on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.