imposture

imposture, fraud, sham, fake, humbug, counterfeit mean a thing made to seem other than it is. imposture applies to any situation in which a spurious object or performance is passed off as genuine.

• • their claim of environmental concern is an imposture

fraud usually implies a deliberate perversion of the truth.

• • the diary was exposed as a fraud

sham applies to fraudulent imitation of a real thing or action.

• • condemned the election as a sham

fake implies an imitation of or substitution for the genuine but does not necessarily imply dishonesty.

• • these jewels are fakes; the real ones are in the vault

humbug suggests elaborate pretense usually so flagrant as to be transparent.

• • creating publicity by foisting humbugs on a gullible public

counterfeit applies especially to the close imitation of something valuable.

• • 20-dollar bills that were counterfeits