How to Use barker in a Sentence

barker

noun
  • Even an old carnival barker can’t sell that.
    — Kevin Sherrington, Dallas Morning News, 7 Jan. 2026
  • Jay cannot be summed up with some concise carnival-barker pitch.
    — New York Times, 19 Oct. 2021
  • Asked what guests appear on the song, Pusha goes into full jovial barker mode.
    — Jason Newman, Rolling Stone, 18 Apr. 2022
  • Mike Bibby isn’t just a barker in practice.
    — Joe Davidson, Sacbee.com, 2 Nov. 2025
  • Turn your head and a murderous carnival barker will be waiting just out of your eye line to chop you up and serve you to the crowds.
    — Julie Tremaine, Forbes, 9 Oct. 2021
  • Two chairs sit outside most of the stores all day, where a staffer can sit, part security guard, part carnival barker.
    — Mark Ellwood, Robb Report, 15 June 2023
  • The copywriter is the carnival barker, asking you to step right up and buy a ticket to see the tightrope walker.
    — John Hall, Forbes, 12 Sep. 2021
  • To her audience, Nogueira speaks like a circus barker peddling beauty products.
    — Brennan Kilbane, Allure, 3 Oct. 2022
  • Hell’s carnival barker leads visitors through a freak show with fire breathers, a knife thrower and the spawn of Satan himself.
    — Hannah Kirby, Journal Sentinel, 18 Oct. 2024
  • His Saber is one part cute-but-always-pissing-on-the-floor puppy dog, one part carnival barker, and a whole lot of amiable sleaze.
    — Mark Olsen Staff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 10 Dec. 2021
  • Campaigns are like a visit to the carnival, listening to the music and the barkers teasing customers out of their money and good judgment.
    — Dean Minnich, Baltimore Sun, 20 July 2024
  • In the land of crypto, the one-eyed man is king — and the line between carnival barker and investment guru extremely difficult to find.
    — Steven Zeitchik, Washington Post, 24 July 2022
  • This breed is not known to be big barkers, according to PetMD, but Marley is still a puppy learning the ropes.
    — Liz O'Connell, MSNBC Newsweek, 19 Sep. 2025
  • Parker saw his job as an elevated version of the carnival barker, the person who ensured Elvis was always in people's hearts and minds.
    — Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 23 June 2022
  • Everyone knows that the barker for the bandwagon is selling a show; injecting a common touch into your presentation is simply courtesy and good sense.
    — Jeff Bradford, Forbes, 6 Jan. 2023
  • His father, Harry, performed as a carnival barker and as a comedian in burlesque theater and vaudeville.
    — Steve Volk, Discover Magazine, 1 Mar. 2018
  • In front of Love on Haight, a barker for the tiedye emporium was calling out to greetings to tourists on the open-air buses, and inviting the sparse foot traffic in past the velvet ropes to shop.
    — Sam Whiting, San Francisco Chronicle, 9 Nov. 2021
  • His characterization flopped all over the place, from Gekko-like scheming to carnival barker hucksterism to flat out comedy relief.
    — Tribune News Service, cleveland, 2 Jan. 2021
  • The Fan, Jerry Jones, the ol’ carnival barker, tried hard to sell the idea that the season isn’t over despite evidence mounted in a brutal indictment.
    — Dallas News, 14 Sep. 2022
  • There’s no fast-talking, gavel-touting barker, but the prices speed quickly past the four figures as gamblers huddle around their laptops, poring over their spreadsheets and mathematical models, spitting out price ranges for each team.
    — Will Yakowicz, Forbes, 22 Mar. 2023
  • Del Toro and Morgan adapt a bigger chunk of the Gresham novel (the earlier film starts with Stan already working at the carnival, as a barker), and expand certain episodes.
    — Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 17 Dec. 2021
  • Other categories included best supporting napper, best original barker, best original meower, best costume and best leading cuddler.
    — Brittany Kasko, Fox News, 12 Mar. 2023
  • What sounds like a roster of attractions hawked by a traveling carnival barker are the star performers at Side Yards, an annual tribute to sideshows along the Capitol Riverfront.
    — Chris Richards, Washington Post, 3 Nov. 2022
  • On a stage, a barker lathered the crowd into a froth while introducing a 49ers Super Bowl hero who, given the buildup, was sure to be either Joe Montana or Jerry Rice, but turned out to be Hall of Fame pass rusher Charles Haley.
    — Sam Whiting, San Francisco Chronicle, 3 Feb. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'barker.' 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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