trickster

Animation’s expressiveness can’t be captured by mortals, even one as formidable as Johnson, who so enjoys his trickster Maui that he’s played him three times in 10 years.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026

Watching a trickster hypnotize someone in a live performance might impress you.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 13, 2025

The work in question is a "maqāma" -- an Arabic literary form that often features a wandering "trickster."

From Science Daily ● Nov. 11, 2025

Crudup plays 19 characters in the 80-minute performance, taking on the roles of everyone the titular confidence trickster comes into contact with.

From BBC ● Mar. 14, 2024

There time goes again, being a trickster and having things that was happening reg’lar pace slow down jus’ ’nough so’s I was gonna be forced to watch every turrible drawed-out second.

From "The Journey of Little Charlie" by Christopher Paul Curtis

"Ravens have fascinated people forever," Marzluff said, noting the birds have been considered everything from "creators and tricksters" to "opportunistic pests."

From Barron's ● Mar. 12, 2026

And they told stories about characters like Br’er Rabbit and Anansi, tricksters who provided models for overcoming powerful oppressors.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 15, 2026

Not exercising responsibility for safeguarding the property of the evacuees allowed “an interval of golden opportunity to swindlers and tricksters who had a terrified group of people at their mercy,” according to the apology.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 31, 2025

But although screening at publishers is helpful, the arms race between screening methods and tricksters means it is unlikely to stem the tide of problematic papers entirely.

From Science Magazine ● May 31, 2024

The problem with tricksters is that they think everyone is playing the same games.

From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri