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Peddlers (especially fish merchants) have been called mongers for more than 1000 years. The term traces to a Latin noun meaning "trader." Initially, it was an honorable term, but every profession has its bad apples, and the snake-oil salesmen of the bunch gave monger a bad reputation. By the middle of the 16th century, the term often implied that a merchant was dishonorable and contemptible. Nowadays, monger is typically appended to another word to identify a trader of a particular type. Some combinations (such as fishmonger) suggest respectable commerce, whereas others (such as rumormonger, scandalmonger, and hypemonger) imply that a person is trading or spreading information in a careless or deceptive manner.
Examples of monger in a Sentence
Nardine Saad, Los Angeles Times, 24 Apr. 2024
Recently, the dwindling revenues forced her to get a second job, also in fish, as a salesperson at another monger’s shop.
—Josh Lederman, NBC News, 1 Jan. 2024
Josephine Stratman, New York Daily News, 10 Feb. 2024
Until conservative legislators became obsessed with fear mongering about drag queens and children, most of this could have been re-created at a kids’ party.
—Shamira Ibrahim, Vulture, 7 Jan. 2024
See all Example Sentences for monger 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'monger.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Monger.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/monger. Accessed 2 Jul. 2024.
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