wheeler-dealer

Sometimes wheel·er and deal·er

[hwee-ler-dee-ler, wee-]

noun

Informal.

1. a person who wheels and deals.

wheeler-dealer

noun

1. informal,  a person who wheels and deals

Word History and Origins

Origin of wheeler-dealer¹

First recorded in 1950–55

Example Sentences

His self-stylings as a wheeler-dealer have receded ever since his first impeachment in 2019.

From Slate

McCartney was dubious about the man the New York Times called "the toughest wheeler-dealer in the pop jungle" and man who had said: "Don't talk to me about ethics. Every man makes his own. It's like a war."

From BBC

First up, the call between the prime minister and the president-elect, seeking, in Downing Street’s description of it, to describe a tone of warmth, even bonhomie between the socialist former human rights lawyer and the billionaire wheeler-dealer New Yorker.

From BBC

Most of us will likely agree that if you are making $18 or $22 or $25 per hour, you are not a wheeler-dealer in the corner suite, and you should have a right to overtime coverage without having to prove exactly how not-managerial you are.

From Slate

Akhtar renders Lopakhin as a cockney wheeler-dealer, by turns chummy and aggressive, whose brazen acquisitiveness is tempered by a raffish charm — he is fond of corny catchphrases like “see ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya” — and moments of humanity.

From New York Times