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
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of impostor
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
But don’t be fooled — what might seem like a clandestine cannabis crop is often just a harmless impostor.
—Brandi D. Addison, Austin American-Statesman, 25 June 2024
While that may have been the case, the country’s oligarchs have unwittingly turned this volatile impostor into a folk hero whose power may not diminish even outside the chancellor’s sphere of influence.
—Scott Tobias, Vulture, 17 Mar. 2024
The only people who never feel like impostors are the real impostors.
—Melody Wilding, Forbes, 30 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for impostor
Tom Rogers, Newsweek, 26 Dec. 2024
But don’t be fooled — what might seem like a clandestine cannabis crop is often just a harmless impostor.
—Brandi D. Addison, Austin American-Statesman, 25 June 2024
While that may have been the case, the country’s oligarchs have unwittingly turned this volatile impostor into a folk hero whose power may not diminish even outside the chancellor’s sphere of influence.
—Scott Tobias, Vulture, 17 Mar. 2024
The only people who never feel like impostors are the real impostors.
—Melody Wilding, Forbes, 30 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for impostor
Recent Examples of Synonyms for impostor
Noun
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The bot will see you now: Therapists in the U.S. are getting ready for a battle with A.I. pretenders.—
Natasha Frost,
New York Times,
25 Feb. 2025
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Without a bit more heart and soul, the spinoff is just a pretender in a nicely tailored suit.—
Kelly Lawler,
USA TODAY,
25 Feb. 2025
Noun
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But Kennedy has a long, undistinguished record of relying on the work of charlatans to make wild charges, of not correcting the record when he is proven wrong, and then going to find more bad evidence to continue to make the same insinuations.—
The Editors,
National Review,
31 Jan. 2025
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That’s because the agency’s duty is to stand in the way of businesses desiring to push unsafe and ineffective nostrums at unwary consumers, and also in the way of a perverse idea that personal freedom includes the freedom to be gulled by charlatans.—
Michael Hiltzik,
Los Angeles Times,
17 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Once the actor put a razor to his upper lip, Donner ripped off his own mustache — a fake.—
David Morgan,
CBS News,
27 Feb. 2025
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The first is social engineering, using impersonation and deep fakes to trick an employee into giving up sensitive information.—
Matt Robison,
Newsweek,
24 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Hader, a household name in Austria for his work as a comedian on stage, won the best actor honor at the Locarno Film Festival for his role in Hold-Up in 2000.—
Georg Szalai,
The Hollywood Reporter,
26 Feb. 2025
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Maybe there is something about this kind of family secret that fuels actors — the same thing happened to Jack Nicholson.—
Carolyn Kellogg,
Los Angeles Times,
26 Feb. 2025
Noun
-
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
-
Milla — a young woman who feels disillusioned by doctors that treat her like a recalcitrant child, directing even conversations about her treatment to her father instead of her — finds false security in quacks selling enemas and juice cleanses.—
Angie Han,
The Hollywood Reporter,
5 Feb. 2025
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Trump’s Insane Clown Posse Cabinet is very close to being filled with a cadre of fools and quacks, goons and thugs.—
S.E. Cupp,
New York Daily News,
4 Feb. 2025
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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After Elizabeth Holmes lost her last-ditch effort to overturn her 2022 fraud conviction by a federal appeals court on Monday, Feb. 24, the former Theranos founder responded to the decision from behind bars.—
Danielle Bacher,
People.com,
5 Mar. 2025
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In 2023, researchers revealed that tens of thousands of Android TV boxes being used in homes, schools, and businesses were equipped with secret backdoors that allowed them to be used in a host of cybercrime and online fraud.—
Lily Hay Newman,
WIRED,
5 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Impostor.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/impostor. Accessed 9 Mar. 2025.
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