1
as in mocking
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 playing
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
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Recent Examples of impersonating
Consumers increasingly must realize that con artists are often impersonating banks, government agencies and others in authority.
—
Susan Tompor, Freep.com, 2 Oct. 2025
Deputies arrested Lopez and charged him with impersonating an officer.
—Allison Gordon, CNN Money, 2 Oct. 2025
Investigators have since arrested at least three members of Scattered Spider, a group known to be made up of native English-language speakers who excel at social engineering tactics, including impersonating customer support to phish company employees.
—Senior Reporter, PC Magazine, 29 Sep. 2025
Investigators would soon discover a disturbing truth that Daniel had been impersonating a boyfriend Kristil had as a teenager for months, terrorizing his own family before ultimately killing his wife.
—Doc Louallen, ABC News, 26 Sep. 2025
Kimmel did previously appear on television in blackface on numerous occasions, impersonating basketball player Karl Malone.
—Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 24 Sep. 2025
The man was booked into Sutter County Jail on multiple felony firearm charges, possession of paraphernalia and impersonating a peace officer.
—Sacbee.com, 23 Sep. 2025
Blanco unwittingly joined a growing number of Colorado immigrants who have been scammed by people impersonating lawyers.
—Sam Tabachnik, Denver Post, 22 Sep. 2025
Ads prominently displayed on search engines are impersonating a wide range of online services in a bid to infect Macs with a potent credential stealer, security companies have warned.
—Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 22 Sep. 2025
Susan Tompor, Freep.com, 2 Oct. 2025
Deputies arrested Lopez and charged him with impersonating an officer.
—Allison Gordon, CNN Money, 2 Oct. 2025
Investigators have since arrested at least three members of Scattered Spider, a group known to be made up of native English-language speakers who excel at social engineering tactics, including impersonating customer support to phish company employees.
—Senior Reporter, PC Magazine, 29 Sep. 2025
Investigators would soon discover a disturbing truth that Daniel had been impersonating a boyfriend Kristil had as a teenager for months, terrorizing his own family before ultimately killing his wife.
—Doc Louallen, ABC News, 26 Sep. 2025
Kimmel did previously appear on television in blackface on numerous occasions, impersonating basketball player Karl Malone.
—Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 24 Sep. 2025
The man was booked into Sutter County Jail on multiple felony firearm charges, possession of paraphernalia and impersonating a peace officer.
—Sacbee.com, 23 Sep. 2025
Blanco unwittingly joined a growing number of Colorado immigrants who have been scammed by people impersonating lawyers.
—Sam Tabachnik, Denver Post, 22 Sep. 2025
Ads prominently displayed on search engines are impersonating a wide range of online services in a bid to infect Macs with a potent credential stealer, security companies have warned.
—Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 22 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for impersonating
Verb
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Authoritarians historically come for the comics first, and most recently under Putin, satirist Idrak Mirzalizade was jailed and deported for mocking Russian housing.—
Lizz Winstead,
Time,
27 Sep. 2025
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Brian stumbles back to his father’s tent, where an angry Simon takes his frustration over Uncle Mac’s mocking out on his son.—
Kimberly Roots,
TVLine,
26 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Vought, who helped write the policy blueprint known as Project 2025, is playing a major role during the shutdown, including on decisions over whether there are mass layoffs of federal employees instead of furloughs and what funding is cut and what is allowed to flow.—
Sarah D. Wire,
USA Today,
3 Oct. 2025
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George Clooney is playing a movie star, and that was sort of built into the idea.—
Scott Roxborough,
HollywoodReporter,
3 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Only one case has resulted in federal charges for imitating an officer – another break from the past four administrations, when roughly half of the ICE-imposter cases were charged under federal statutes.—
Allison Gordon,
CNN Money,
2 Oct. 2025
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The fact that these programs are becoming adept at imitating consciousness, however, may be all that matters for now.—
Webb Wright,
The Atlantic,
1 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Lopez received high praise for her performance in Hustlers, portraying a real-life exotic dancer who targeted and schemed Wall Street clientele out of money.—
Jen Juneau,
PEOPLE,
29 Sep. 2025
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Strong has finalized his deal to play Zuckerberg in The Social Reckoning, portraying an older version of the Meta CEO than viewers saw in the 2010 movie.—
Ryan Gajewski,
HollywoodReporter,
26 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Just players performing the task at hand and being aware of certain situations.—
Nicki Jhabvala,
New York Times,
29 Sep. 2025
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Musk has said Tesla will start selling its Optimus robots in 2026, and the company claims Optimus is already performing tasks in Tesla factories autonomously.—
Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez,
Fortune,
29 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Five years later Augusta had a stroke, with Ed acting as primary caretaker.—
JR Radcliffe,
USA Today,
4 Oct. 2025
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Henson eventually stepped away from acting, and, according to his LinkedIn profile, earned an MFA from Columbia University in 2015.—
Allison DeGrushe,
Entertainment Weekly,
4 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The publication, curated by researcher Maria Pirulli, sheds light on da Vinci’s contribution to the fashion, textile, beauty and luxury industries, depicting the artist as an ahead-of-his-time champion of Made in Italy and branding.—
Martino Carrera,
Footwear News,
28 Sep. 2025
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Jessica Guistolise, Megan Hurley and Molly Kelley talk with CNBC in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on July 11, 2025, about fake pornographic images and videos depicting their faces made by their mutual friend Ben using AI site DeepSwap.—
Jonathan Vanian,
CNBC,
28 Sep. 2025
Verb
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However, the video also shows King Charles and Kate Middleton sitting down while the guests clapped, which people are interpreting as a snub.—
Lizzie Lanuza,
StyleCaster,
25 Sep. 2025
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The new puzzles are more complex than those from 2019, sometimes requiring the application of multiple rules, reasoning for multiple steps, or interpreting symbols.—
Matthew Hutson,
IEEE Spectrum,
22 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Impersonating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/impersonating. Accessed 5 Oct. 2025.
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