Definition of impersonatenext
1
as in to imitate
to pretend to be (what one is not) in appearance or behavior a school intruder was caught trying to impersonate a teacher

Synonyms & Similar Words

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2
as in to portray
to present a portrayal or performance of interpreters at the living history museum impersonate figures who are known to have actually lived in the colonial town

Synonyms & Similar Words

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 impersonate Drew Michael similarly mocked Jimmy Fallon’s emptiness in his 2021 special Red Blue Green by impersonating his ability to laugh at anything, and Hasan Minhaj impersonated Aziz Ansari’s cartoonishness in 2022’s The King’s Jester. Hershal Pandya, Vulture, 30 Dec. 2025 When an escaped Eleven finds her way to a diner (the image of a bald Brown in a hospital gown shoving fries into her mouth is indelible), Brenner’s team impersonates social services, kills the kind proprietor, but fails to apprehend her. Judy Berman, Time, 26 Dec. 2025 Rumors spread about the Malmedy and Stavelot murders, paratroopers behind enemy lines, and German soldiers impersonating Americans to seize bridges. Kapil Kajal, Interesting Engineering, 25 Dec. 2025 Someone started impersonating its sales rep by using a sneakily similar username. Sarah Zhang, The Atlantic, 23 Dec. 2025 See All Example Sentences for impersonate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for impersonate
Verb
  • Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, previously said in a statement that accounts imitating other people go against their terms of service and are removed when flagged.
    Jessica Sager, PEOPLE, 26 Jan. 2026
  • These fake sites are made to imitate genuine Google support pages.
    Zak Doffman, Forbes.com, 26 Jan. 2026
Verb
  • Republicans portrayed the move as partisan and urged an appeal.
    Brady Knox, The Washington Examiner, 27 Jan. 2026
  • Erika Toda portrays Hosoki, while Sairi Ito plays Minori Uozumi, a writer tasked with ghostwriting Hosoki’s autobiography.
    Patrick Brzeski, HollywoodReporter, 27 Jan. 2026
Verb
  • Promoted domestically as a tale of peasant uprising, the film later became a cult curiosity abroad, often mocked for its special effects but recognized as one of the country’s most technically ambitious productions.
    Will Ripley, CNN Money, 21 Jan. 2026
  • Some meme makers are admirers of Kirk who want to valorize him; some are neo-Nazis out to mock Kirk for not being extreme enough (while also drawing attention to their cause); some are liberals trying to troll conservatives; many are surely apolitical types having a nonsensical laugh.
    Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 20 Jan. 2026
Verb
  • The administration is playing a blame game over the initial characterization of Pretti, Axios reports.
    Burgess Everett, semafor.com, 28 Jan. 2026
  • Dak already has shot past the championship game deadline in that no other quarterback has ever begun his career with a team and played 10 seasons without reaching the NFC or AFC title game, then reached a Super Bowl with that team later in his career.
    Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 28 Jan. 2026
Verb
  • 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
Verb
  • The shipyard team will also perform underwater hull preservation work, upgrade onboard ship systems, and refurbish the living spaces for the ship’s 41 crewmembers.
    Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 25 Jan. 2026
  • The Recording Academy on Tuesday announced that two-time Grammy winner Sabrina Carpenter will perform on awards night.
    Malia Mendez, Boston Herald, 25 Jan. 2026
Verb
  • Roughly 30 minutes later, things got decidedly more bizarre when the official White House X account also published an image on X purportedly depicting Levy Armstrong’s arrest.
    Maggie Harrison Dupré, Futurism, 22 Jan. 2026
  • The clips have been altered to protect the identities of those depicted.
    Cora Engelbrecht, New Yorker, 22 Jan. 2026
Verb
  • It cannot even be interpreted like that.
    Hannah Abraham, Forbes.com, 27 Jan. 2026
  • Understanding Latin America is not merely a requirement for interpreting headlines about Venezuela but a prerequisite for Americans to understand themselves and their place in the world.
    Ana L. Ros, The Conversation, 26 Jan. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Impersonate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/impersonate. Accessed 29 Jan. 2026.

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