Thesaurus results for IMPERSONATING

impersonating

verb

present participle of impersonate

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

Relevance

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

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 impersonating Hey, the boss needs a favor In a November 2025 Reddit post, one person described buying $800 in Target gift cards on their second day at a new job after receiving an email impersonating their boss. — Tatiana Sataua, Fortune, 9 Oct. 2026 Then another old friend of Mary’s, the shape-shifting warlock William (Devon Sawa), is revealed to have been impersonating a teacher. — Mya Copeland, Variety, 5 Oct. 2026 Colbert gifted Kimmel his Captain America shield, did a sketch-within-an-interview with his son impersonating a Kiwi police officer, and shaved for our amusement. — Bethy Squires, Vulture, 18 Sep. 2026 Researchers noticed that stores impersonating different companies shared technical characteristics. — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 18 Sep. 2026 Waukegan police are warning of a phone scam involving people impersonating local police. — Clifford Ward, Chicago Tribune, 18 Sep. 2026 Arquette, 55, plays her brother Rob, who opts to also go back to high school while impersonating a teenager. — Virginia Chamlee, PEOPLE, 14 Sep. 2026 The Yuba County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday detained and arrested a 21-year-old man for allegedly impersonating a peace officer on the Yuba College campus in Marysville. — Tania Azhang, Sacbee.com, 29 Aug. 2026 Getty Images Fraudsters are mailing physical letters to crypto holders, impersonating the IRS and directing recipients to a fake government website. — Shehan Chandrasekera, Forbes.com, 20 Aug. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for impersonating

Verb

Reels captured everything from dancing and DJ parties at protest sites to songs mocking Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

— Ayushi Shah, CNN Money, 10 Oct. 2026
At this point in the shoot, the host segments that serve as interstitials for the movie mocking that made the original a success have all been filmed.

— Joe Otterson, Variety, 9 Oct. 2026

Definition of mocking

Verb

Fele Martínez has this incredible ability to be funny without playing comedy.

— Annika Pham, Variety, 12 Oct. 2026
And in the battle for control of the Senate, Republicans are now playing defense and spending tens of millions of dollars in some of the most Republican states in the country.

— ABC News, ABC News, 11 Oct. 2026

Definition of playing

Verb

OpenAI denied intentionally imitating Johansson’s voice and later withdrew the feature.

— ABC News, ABC News, 5 Oct. 2026
Speaking of the oversized, the collection’s Handloom Cardigan fits the bill but spares you from imitating a balloon, courtesy of those vertical stripes (also known as the oldest optical trick in the fashion book).

— Stacia Datskovska, Footwear News, 28 Sep. 2026

Definition of imitating

Verb

In fact, the Academy Award–winner made a name for herself by portraying women who worked their way up in the world, which proved a winning archetype among Depression-era American audiences.

— Megan Johnson, Architectural Digest, 14 Oct. 2026
Actors portraying Rama and Sita are shown living in exile in a lush green forest.

— Sohini Sarah Pillai, The Conversation, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of portraying

Verb

Saturday Morning Detention has two comics, Tay Brightman and CJ Marrinan, acting as the teachers to help keep the chaos organized and moderate the games.

— Alejandra Gularte, Vulture, 12 Oct. 2026
However, at 8 years old, Erin went back to a normal childhood in California and didn’t return to acting for decades.

— Justine Fisher, PEOPLE, 12 Oct. 2026

Definition of acting

Verb

His view of the rocket came just seconds before the vehicle's stage separation, which was followed immediately by the rocket's main booster performing an engine burn to right its trajectory for landing back at the Cape.

— Josh Dinner, Space.com, 13 Oct. 2026
Meanwhile, Swedish streamer and content creator Marlon Lundgren Garcia was London Fashion Week’s top-performing talent, accumulating $1 million in EMV for Burberry and H&M combined.

— Amy Francombe, Vogue, 13 Oct. 2026

Definition of performing

Verb

Johnson talks about researching police work but almost entirely avoiding depicting scenes of it on the page, and also explains why the book transitions from third to first person.

— Fiction Non Fiction, Literary Hub, 8 Oct. 2026
Another powerful work is Steve McQueen’s 1993 film Bear, depicting two Black men wrestling.

— Hikmat Mohammed, ARTnews.com, 8 Oct. 2026

Definition of depicting

Verb

The challenge is how and where to find high-quality research studies to derive interval likelihood ratios when electronic health records display only binary cutoffs as aids to interpreting test result values.

— Amiran Baduashvili, The Conversation, 12 Oct. 2026
Provincial governments, adept at interpreting and carrying out the central leadership’s priorities, have responded rapidly.

— Scott Singer, Foreign Affairs, 12 Oct. 2026

Definition of interpreting

Browse Nearby Words

impersonates

impersonating

impersonation

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Impersonating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/impersonating. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of impersonating

verb

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

zenith

Popular in Grammar & Usage

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

Popular in Wordplay

16 Food Words Recently Added to the Dictionary

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Bad Endings and Rough Situations

The Words of the Week - Oct. 16

Popular

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

16 Food Words Recently Added to the Dictionary

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

Games & Quizzes