trickster

plural tricksters

1. human sciencesAny 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.

   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

   1 more example

   1991, Alan R. Velie (compiler and editor), American Indian Literature: An Anthology, Revised edition, page 44, 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 things about the trickster are predictable: he is always a wanderer, always hungry, and usually oversexed. Tricksters abound in folktales […] .

2. One who plays tricks or pranks on others.

   A skilled trickster knows how to outsmart their enemies with ease.

   Synonyms: prankster, tricker, trepan

3. 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

4. An impish or playful person.
5. A fraud or cheat (person who performs a trick or hoax full of falsehoods for the purpose of unlawful gain).

   She's easy game for a trickster like him.

   1 more example

   That shady trickster faked being a psychic advisor to spread misinformation and gain profit.

present singular third person tricksters · participle present trickstering · participle past trickstered · past trickstered

1. intransitiveTo engage in the antics of a trickster; to play tricks.