variants
or imposter
as in pretender
one who makes false claims of identity or expertise
the man who claimed to be a prince turned out to be an impostor
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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Recent Examples of impostor
The only people who never feel like impostors are the real impostors.
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Melody Wilding, Forbes, 30 Oct. 2024
Which was presumably not difficult to do after Daniela, having at last discovered that the man sleeping in her bed for the past month was an impostor, bonked Jason B on the head and shoved him down the basement stairs.
—Chris Klimek, Vulture, 26 June 2024
The prospective mystery series follows Sonny, a teenager who wakes up in the hospital after a car accident to discover that his mom — his only parent, and his best friend — appears to have been replaced by an impostor.
—Matt Webb Mitovich, TVLine, 23 Oct. 2024
Seeing a Santa impostor commit heinous acts amidst the backdrop of powdery white snow and the glow of Christmas lights was jarring and mostly novel for the time, though 1974's Black Christmas was, of course, ahead of that game.
—Steven Thrash, EW.com, 19 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for impostor 
Melody Wilding, Forbes, 30 Oct. 2024
Which was presumably not difficult to do after Daniela, having at last discovered that the man sleeping in her bed for the past month was an impostor, bonked Jason B on the head and shoved him down the basement stairs.
—Chris Klimek, Vulture, 26 June 2024
The prospective mystery series follows Sonny, a teenager who wakes up in the hospital after a car accident to discover that his mom — his only parent, and his best friend — appears to have been replaced by an impostor.
—Matt Webb Mitovich, TVLine, 23 Oct. 2024
Seeing a Santa impostor commit heinous acts amidst the backdrop of powdery white snow and the glow of Christmas lights was jarring and mostly novel for the time, though 1974's Black Christmas was, of course, ahead of that game.
—Steven Thrash, EW.com, 19 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for impostor
Recent Examples of Synonyms for impostor
Noun
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Every decision carries weight, and in a league where the line between contender and pretender is razor-thin, there’s little room for error.Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News, 6 Jan. 2025
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The only saving grace for City is that there is no clear pretender to take its place as the top dog in English soccer.Joe Prince-Wright, NBC Sports, NBC News, 20 Dec. 2024
Noun
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The good, sincere members would flourish and the charlatans, the folks who over-promise to their constituents, would not.Gary Franks, Boston Herald, 20 Jan. 2024
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Tartuffe, a charismatic charlatan, insinuates himself into the lives of a wealthy family, setting off a chain reaction of disruption and pandemonium.Del Mar Times, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Feb. 2024
Noun
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The story was updated to add details from an X employee who calls the screenshot a fake.Jess Weatherbed, The Verge, 3 Jan. 2025
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In this essay for The Paris Review, Simon Wu recounts his experiences pining after, and eventually buying, six designer handbags: some real, some real but used, and one fake.Cheri Lucas Rowlands, Longreads, 17 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Musk’s public support of the AfD is part of his wider, international campaign to elevate right-wing, conservative political actors in Western nations.Timothy Nerozzi, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 9 Jan. 2025
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Older actors know more people and have worked with more people, and those people vote.Steven Zeitchik, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Gould observed that Jerry Falwell had taken up the mountebank’s mission of William Jennings Bryan.Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 26 July 2024
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Now, this pallid Color Purple epitomizes the artistic dearth of an era when a cultural mountebank like Winfrey uses race and feminist guile to cheat us of America’s most creative achievements.Armond White, National Review, 3 Jan. 2024
Noun
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Amy's every interaction is loaded with dramatic irony, but the audience isn't in a good spot knowing that her teenage daughter actually hates her or that the new chief of internal medicine is a quack who killed a patient.Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY, 8 Jan. 2025
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The nomination to any responsible position of quacks like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo would put her to that test.Orlando Sentinel and South Florida Sun Sentinel Editorial Boards, Orlando Sentinel, 11 Nov. 2024
Noun
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For a Gen X-er raised on movies that skewered phonies and wannabes, the thought of being a poser was, in the end, far more offensive to his sensibilities than being potentially bland.Rachel Syme, The New Yorker, 23 Dec. 2024
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The answer is important because being a phony is hard work.LaRae Quy, Forbes, 20 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Americans encounter about $56 billion in fraud each year, the NSC said.Miranda Nazzaro, The Hill, 16 Jan. 2025
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Previous installments examined fraud in local governments, police vetting requirements and the water crisis in Kansas.Jonathan Shorman, Kansas City Star, 16 Jan. 2025
Thesaurus Entries Near impostor
Cite this Entry
“Impostor.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/impostor. Accessed 21 Jan. 2025.
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