variants
or imposter
as in pretender
one who makes false claims of identity or expertise
the man who claimed to be a prince turned out to be an impostor
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of impostor
Mike Hawkins Adelaide Tovar, a University of Michigan scientist who researches genes related to diabetes, used to feel like an impostor in a laboratory.
—
Brett Kelman, NPR, 28 Apr. 2025
Keep An ‘Evidence Folder’ There’s a difference between feeling like an impostor and being one.
—Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 14 Apr. 2025
Zoom out: Nationally, investment and impostor scams took the biggest financial tolls last year, the FTC says, with consumers losing $5.7 billion and nearly $3 billion to each, respectively.
—Alex Fitzpatrick, Axios, 1 Apr. 2025
Legitimate candidates face tougher hurdles while impostors glide through.
—Jack Kelly, Forbes.com, 11 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for impostor
Brett Kelman, NPR, 28 Apr. 2025
Keep An ‘Evidence Folder’ There’s a difference between feeling like an impostor and being one.
—Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 14 Apr. 2025
Zoom out: Nationally, investment and impostor scams took the biggest financial tolls last year, the FTC says, with consumers losing $5.7 billion and nearly $3 billion to each, respectively.
—Alex Fitzpatrick, Axios, 1 Apr. 2025
Legitimate candidates face tougher hurdles while impostors glide through.
—Jack Kelly, Forbes.com, 11 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for impostor
Recent Examples of Synonyms for impostor
Noun
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But for those trying to fill out their brackets this week, here are the Big Ten’s contenders and pretenders heading into March Madness.—
Paul Sullivan,
Chicago Tribune,
16 Mar. 2025
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That’s where discipline separates professionals from pretenders.—
Jim Osman,
Forbes.com,
25 May 2025
Noun
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Trying to keep the population safe from a novel infectious disease, battling to understand the virus, but also navigating people's suspicion of vaccines and science, and their desire to use bleach and ivermectin, egged on by charlatans.—
David Faris,
MSNBC Newsweek,
11 Apr. 2025
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For them, the Nazarene is not a charlatan, but an upright man, one who has courage, who speaks well and says the right things, like other great prophets in the history of Israel.—
Daniel Burke,
NPR,
9 May 2025
Noun
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People will either fall for fakes—or doubt the truth.—
Jesus Mesa,
MSNBC Newsweek,
28 May 2025
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When the computer was seized, in November, creating digital fakes was not yet considered a crime.—
Tiffany Hsu,
New York Times,
22 May 2025
Noun
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Although none of the actors had been contracted for a second season, the hope was that the ensemble cast would reprise their original roles.—
Emily Zemler,
Los Angeles Times,
2 June 2025
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Anyone interested in filmmaking or who just wants to enjoy an intense, suspenseful drama with some of the greatest actors of the era, should absolutely check this one out on Netflix as soon as possible.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
2 June 2025
Noun
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With tariffs on pharmaceuticals, the mountebank of Mar-A-Lago wants to punish a small democracy of 5.3 million people that for the past 60 years has worked its way into the top table of drug research and production: Ireland.—
Kevin Rennie,
Hartford Courant,
29 Mar. 2025
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Gould observed that Jerry Falwell had taken up the mountebank’s mission of William Jennings Bryan.—
Michael Hiltzik,
Los Angeles Times,
26 July 2024
Noun
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The Spare Room by Helen Garner This is a book about a woman, Helen, who decides to let her old friend, Nicola, who is dying of cancer, come and stay with her in Melbourne while Nicola sees a local quack doctor.—
The New Yorker,
New Yorker,
21 May 2025
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And this is why hydropathy was not like many of the other quack medical therapies of the not-quite-modern era.—
John Jeremiah Sullivan,
Harpers Magazine,
29 Apr. 2025
Noun
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For a Gen X-er raised on movies that skewered phonies and wannabes, the thought of being a poser was, in the end, far more offensive to his sensibilities than being potentially bland.—
Rachel Syme,
The New Yorker,
23 Dec. 2024
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The answer is important because being a phony is hard work.—
LaRae Quy,
Forbes,
20 Dec. 2024
Noun
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More than £46 billion in loans had been disbursed by various lenders through the scheme, according to the Department for Business and Trade, but the agency also admitted there had been more than 100,000 cases of loss due to fraud and error.—
Robert Olsen,
Forbes.com,
28 May 2025
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Instead of addressing waste and fraud and providing adults with a path to productive and independent lives through meaningful work, the Pritzker administration attacks these reform efforts.—
Regan Deering,
Chicago Tribune,
28 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Impostor.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/impostor. Accessed 10 Jun. 2025.
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