sham

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

assume, affect, pretend, simulate, feign, counterfeit, sham mean to put on a false or deceptive appearance. assume often implies a justifiable motive rather than an intent to deceive.

• • assumed an air of cheerfulness around the patients

affect implies making a false show of possessing, using, or feeling.

• • affected an interest in art

pretend implies an overt and sustained false appearance.

• • pretended that nothing had happened

simulate suggests a close imitation of the appearance of something.

• • cosmetics that simulate a suntan

feign implies more artful invention than pretend, less specific mimicry than simulate.

• • feigned sickness

counterfeit implies achieving the highest degree of verisimilitude of any of these words.

• • an actor counterfeiting drunkenness

sham implies an obvious falseness that fools only the gullible.

• • shammed a most unconvincing limp