Thesaurus results for PERSONATE

personate

verb

ˈpər-sə-ˌnāt

Definition of personate

as in to play

to pretend to be (what one is not) in appearance or behavior likes to personate the man of the world, but he's still the small-town hick that he always was

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

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.

Recent Examples of personate Till’s motifs swept though the ensemble, as horns, clarinets, bassoons, violin all had a chance to personate the character. — By Libby Hanssen, kansascity.com, 3 June 2017

Recent Examples of Synonyms for personate

Verb

Footwear also took a distinctly feminine direction this season, with embellishment playing a major role.

— Sandra Salibian, Footwear News, 13 Oct. 2026
This was apparent recently when a judge in Louisiana ruled that players who signed NFL contracts over the summer could return to play their fifth college season at LSU.

— Michael McCann, Sportico.com, 13 Oct. 2026

Definition of play

Verb

Last year, the AI startup removed chatbots that impersonated popular Disney characters such as Elsa and Darth Vader after the Burbank entertainment behemoth sent a cease-and-desist letter.

— Queenie Wong, Los Angeles Times, 13 Oct. 2026
The message can create an immediate fear that someone is impersonating you online.

— Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 13 Oct. 2026

Definition of impersonate

Verb

OpenAI denied intentionally imitating Johansson’s voice and later withdrew the feature.

— ABC News, ABC News, 5 Oct. 2026
Then-Princess Elizabeth struggled to pronounce her own name as a toddler, and her grandfather, King George V, reportedly imitated her pronunciation.

— Stephanie Nolasco, FOXNews.com, 3 Oct. 2026

Definition of imitate

Verb

Also on Weekend Update, James Austin Johnson portrayed a selfish Kevin O’Leary, the Shark Tank investor who is backing a massive data center campus in northwest Utah.

— William Vaillancourt, Rolling Stone, 11 Oct. 2026
The patience required to piece them together paints Winehouse as an introspective woman as opposed to her party girl that the tabloids portrayed her as.

— Hikmat Mohammed, ARTnews.com, 10 Oct. 2026

Definition of portray

Verb

Fitoussi said the project began almost as a joke, with the idea of casting one of France’s busiest actors as someone who never gets to act.

— Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 12 Oct. 2026
Please have a plan in place should flash flooding develop and do not hesitate to act.

— NC Weather Bot, Charlotte Observer, 11 Oct. 2026

Definition of act

Browse Nearby Words

personalty

personate

personated

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Personate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/personate. Accessed 14 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of personate

verb

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

deportment

Popular in Grammar & Usage

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

Popular in Wordplay

16 Food Words Recently Added to the Dictionary

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Bad Endings and Rough Situations

The Words of the Week - Oct. 9

Popular

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

16 Food Words Recently Added to the Dictionary

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

Games & Quizzes