impersonate
verb
im·per·son·ate
im-ˈpər-sə-ˌnāt 
impersonated; impersonating
: to assume or act the character of : personate
Examples of impersonate in a Sentence
He was arrested for impersonating a police officer.
a comedian with a talent for impersonating famous politicians and actors
Recent Examples on the Web
The bots would impersonate beneficiaries, using dates of birth and other information that can be found on the internet, to try to change the beneficiaries’ bank-routing information and steal their benefits.
—
Eli Hager, ProPublica, 8 Sep. 2025
Law enforcement officials are addressing mounting concerns after a series of troubling cases involving criminals impersonating police officers have surfaced, raising alarms about public safety and trust in genuine authority.
—Stepheny Price, FOXNews.com, 7 Sep. 2025
Roughly $460,000 is returning to city coffers after officials became aware in July someone was impersonating Scherrer Construction, a company involved in the $38 million revamp of the public library on North King Drive.
—David Clarey, jsonline.com, 3 Sep. 2025
Anyone in possession of a TLS certificate can cryptographically impersonate the domain for which it was issued.
—Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 3 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for impersonate
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Eli Hager, ProPublica, 8 Sep. 2025
Law enforcement officials are addressing mounting concerns after a series of troubling cases involving criminals impersonating police officers have surfaced, raising alarms about public safety and trust in genuine authority.
—Stepheny Price, FOXNews.com, 7 Sep. 2025
Roughly $460,000 is returning to city coffers after officials became aware in July someone was impersonating Scherrer Construction, a company involved in the $38 million revamp of the public library on North King Drive.
—David Clarey, jsonline.com, 3 Sep. 2025
Anyone in possession of a TLS certificate can cryptographically impersonate the domain for which it was issued.
—Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 3 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for impersonate
Cite this Entry
“Impersonate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/impersonate. Accessed 8 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
impersonate
verb
im·per·son·ate
im-ˈpərs-ᵊn-ˌāt
impersonated; impersonating
: to pretend to be some other person
impersonate a police officer
impersonation
noun
-ˌpərs-ᵊn-ˈā-shən
impersonator
noun
-ˈpərs-ᵊn-ˌāt-ər
Legal Definition
impersonate
transitive verb
im·per·son·ate
im-ˈpər-sə-ˌnāt
impersonated; impersonating
: to assume (another's or a fictitious identity) without authority and with fraudulent intent
impersonate a police officer
impersonated a public servant by saying he was from the water department
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share