FreeScrabbleDictionary

shyster

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
13
Words With Friends
11
Letters
7
Pronunciation
/ˈʃaɪs.tə(ɹ)/(UK)
See all 2 pronunciations
/ˈʃaɪs.tə(ɹ)/(UK) · /ˈʃaɪs.tɚ/(US)

Definition of shyster

3 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

noun

  1. Someone who acts in a disreputable, unethical, or unscrupulous way, especially in the practice of law and politics.
    “True, it was a good advertisement at Boosters' Club lunches, and all the varieties of Annual Banquets to which Good Fellows were invited, to speak sonorously of […] a thing called Ethics, whose nature was confusing but if you had it you were a High-class Realtor and if you hadn't you were a shyster, a piker, and a fly-by-night.”
    “The network canceled—nonco-operation their legal shysters said. Suing me, for, for ten million clams, damages to sponsors, agencies. Internal Revenue-Uncle Whiskers says I owe them a mint.”
    “I could sue you, Polly. A shyster is a disreputable lawyer. I'm a quack.”
See all 3 definitions

noun

  1. Someone who acts in a disreputable, unethical, or unscrupulous way, especially in the practice of law and politics.
    “True, it was a good advertisement at Boosters' Club lunches, and all the varieties of Annual Banquets to which Good Fellows were invited, to speak sonorously of […] a thing called Ethics, whose nature was confusing but if you had it you were a High-class Realtor and if you hadn't you were a shyster, a piker, and a fly-by-night.”
    “The network canceled—nonco-operation their legal shysters said. Suing me, for, for ten million clams, damages to sponsors, agencies. Internal Revenue-Uncle Whiskers says I owe them a mint.”
    “I could sue you, Polly. A shyster is a disreputable lawyer. I'm a quack.”

verb

  1. (intransitive)To act in a disreputable, unethical, or unscrupulous way, especially in the practice of law and politics.
  2. (transitive)To exploit (someone or something) in this way.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

US origin, 19th century. The etymology of the word is not generally agreed upon. The Oxford English Dictionary describes it as "of obscure origin," possibly deriving from a historical sense…

See full etymology

US origin, 19th century. The etymology of the word is not generally agreed upon. The Oxford English Dictionary describes it as "of obscure origin," possibly deriving from a historical sense of shy meaning "disreputable", equivalent to shy + -ster. Other sources suggest the word derives from shicer, from the German Scheißer (“incompetent worthless person”), from scheißen (“to defecate”), probably influenced by -ster. Not related to shylock.

Anagrams of shyster

2 plays · some not in Scrabble

Best play thyrses 13 points

Words you can make from shyster

70 playable · top: THYRSES (13 pts)

Best play thyrses 13 points

6-letter words

4 words

5-letter words

8 words

4-letter words

23 words

3-letter words

25 words

2-letter words

9 words

Hooks

1 extension · 1 back

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