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

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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

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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 After previously impersonating Elon Musk, Myers played himself this time in an elevator sketch. Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 17 May 2025 Zabi Ullah Mohammed, who lives in New Jersey, made an initial court appearance on charges of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and impersonating a federal agent, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Montana said in a May 15 news release. Sara Schilling, Sacbee.com, 16 May 2025 Although the vast majority of the campaign emails were impersonating Meta, a small percentage also targeted PayPal users. Davey Winder, Forbes.com, 21 May 2025 According to the Hudson Valley Post on Monday, scammers have been impersonating police officers and claiming that victims must pay a fine to avoid arrest for failing to appear for jury duty. Hugh Cameron, MSNBC Newsweek, 19 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for impersonate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for impersonate
Verb
  • Life is not imitating art for The White Lotus stars Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood.
    Sydney Bucksbaum, EW.com, 4 June 2025
  • One example is the achievement of Heinz ketchup in validating its market dominance by showing how art imitates life, and AI imitates humans.
    John Werner, Forbes.com, 29 May 2025
Verb
  • Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories Tony Martinez as Pepino Garcia Tony Martinez portrayed Pepino, the McCoys’ farmhand who often served as comic relief.
    Tereza Shkurtaj, People.com, 31 May 2025
  • According to Salvador, Maje portrayed herself as a victim of psychological and physical abuse.
    Isadora Wandermurem, Time, 30 May 2025
Verb
  • A week later, Rogan mocked Hawass and weighed in again on skeptical theories over who built the pyramids.
    Amira El-Fekki‎, MSNBC Newsweek, 31 May 2025
  • Gervais also mocked himself during his acceptance speech.
    Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 31 May 2025
Verb
  • Sarah Snook, who played Shiv Roy on that HBO drama, was nominated (and went on to win!), following in the footsteps of her costars Jeremy Strong and Keiran Culkin.
    Melissa Locker, Time, 9 June 2025
  • The band then went on to play its way through the rest of the Village, cranking out cartoon theme song medleys between the sets as mostly white kids thrashed in the crowd.
    Brenna Ehrlich, Rolling Stone, 8 June 2025
Verb
  • Tate McRae, Ed Sheeran and Mariah Carey are among the artists slated to perform at this year’s iHeartRadio Music Festival, iHeartMedia announced Tuesday morning.
    Nicole Fell, HollywoodReporter, 3 June 2025
  • But this year, the original cast members of Hamilton are not throwing away their shot to perform at Broadway’s biggest night.
    Olivia B. Waxman, Time, 3 June 2025
Verb
  • Administration officials have also depicted Abrego Garcia, a sheet metal apprentice, as a violent criminal, accusing him—without proof—of being affiliated with MS-13.
    Chantelle Lee, Time, 7 June 2025
  • Or the controversy over the stereotypically demeaning roles Black actors depicted.
    Paula L. Woods, Los Angeles Times, 6 June 2025
Verb
  • Collins explains why they haven’t been given their due and their contributions have been interpreted as opposition to the current state of the workplace.
    Bryan Robinson, Forbes.com, 2 June 2025
  • Meanwhile, social media commenters are interpreting the shift as a sign of the times.
    Alice Gibbs, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 June 2025
Verb
  • One of his owners, Craig Leipold, did, back in January.
    Pierre LeBrun, New York Times, 5 June 2025
  • Enter Ketamine To confirm the finding, the team did the experiment again.
    Jon Hamilton, NPR, 4 June 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Impersonate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/impersonate. Accessed 15 Jun. 2025.

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