as in fraud
one who makes false claims of identity or expertise
it turns out that the guy who claimed to work for a modeling agency was just a pretender
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Recent Examples of pretender
The Bruins – and, yes, with their fair share of good luck – made their guests look like pretenders.
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Steve Conroy, Boston Herald, 8 Feb. 2024
In Saturday's game at Arizona (1:30 p.m., FOX) ASU has the chance to do something it's done only once before this century: go undefeated in November, the month in which good teams separate themselves from early-season pretenders.
—Matthew Self, The Arizona Republic, 26 Nov. 2024
Other pretender brands like Stellantis’s DS, and Hyundai’s Genesis look to be fighting a losing battle.
—Neil Winton, Forbes, 8 Oct. 2024
Those few Knights of the Round Table who remain are third-tier heroes, clinging to a past that is already washing out to sea, while various pretenders to the throne vye for power.
—Erik Kain, Forbes, 10 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for pretender 
Steve Conroy, Boston Herald, 8 Feb. 2024
In Saturday's game at Arizona (1:30 p.m., FOX) ASU has the chance to do something it's done only once before this century: go undefeated in November, the month in which good teams separate themselves from early-season pretenders.
—Matthew Self, The Arizona Republic, 26 Nov. 2024
Other pretender brands like Stellantis’s DS, and Hyundai’s Genesis look to be fighting a losing battle.
—Neil Winton, Forbes, 8 Oct. 2024
Those few Knights of the Round Table who remain are third-tier heroes, clinging to a past that is already washing out to sea, while various pretenders to the throne vye for power.
—Erik Kain, Forbes, 10 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for pretender
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pretender
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
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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The 2018 election was widely considered a sham after his government banned major opposition parties from participating.Regina Garcia Cano, Los Angeles Times, 10 Jan. 2025
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Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and others used this access to delegitimize every part of the proceeding, calling the trial a sham, questioning witnesses’ credibility, and accusing Merchan of bias.Richard Robbins, New York Daily News, 9 Jan. 2025
Noun
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However, Macy's Santa is supposed to be the real Santa, so the department store wanted to cut the famous scene where Buddy finds out about the impostor.Kaycee Sloan, The Enquirer, 2 Dec. 2024
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Nearly 600,000 reports of impostor schemes, including romance scams, were received by FTC officials this year, with losses exceeding $2.1 billion.Tom Rogers, Newsweek, 26 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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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
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Cite this Entry
“Pretender.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pretender. Accessed 21 Jan. 2025.
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