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personate

verb

ˈpər-sə-ˌnāt How to pronounce personate (audio)
Definition of personatenext
as in to play
to pretend to be (what one is not) in appearance or behavior likes to personate the man of the world, but he's still the small-town hick that he always was

Synonyms & Similar Words

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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 personate 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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for personate
  1. play
  2. impersonate
  3. imitate
  4. mock
  5. portray
  6. act
Verb
  • Her Eras show doc lost its awards last weekend, and the Chiefs play the Broncos tonight, but that didn’t stop people from speculating.
    — Vulture Staff, Vulture, 15 Sep. 2026
  • The only—passing—exception is the man who plays Calamawy’s young colleague at one point; and his lines seem to be dubbed with the help of AI.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of play
Verb
  • In one scene, Simpson put on a prosthetic nose and a face of white makeup to impersonate an elderly, white man eager to call the numbers at a bingo game.
    — Kalia Richardson, USA Today, 9 Sep. 2026
  • Those reports can help Amazon identify developing scam campaigns and bad actors impersonating the company.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of impersonate
Verb
  • The ’90s — its music, its films, its pre-social-media privacy — has become an object of fascination, and Long argues the era can’t be imitated or counterfeited.
    — Clayton Davis, Variety, 16 Sep. 2026
  • Over the weekend, movie-theater chain AMC Entertainment accused Robinhood of creating an unauthorized market that imitates trading in AMC shares through its overseas platform without the company’s approval.
    — Camila Grigera Naón, Fortune, 10 Sep. 2026
Definition of imitate
Verb
  • Sponsors threaten to abandon the team, while male shareholders mock the entire idea as a waste of money.
    — Dan Zaksheske OutKick, FOXNews.com, 18 Sep. 2026
  • My career was insulted, and I was mocked for fumbling around while attempting to juice a pineapple with a woefully inadequate kitchen utensil.
    — Todd Martens, Los Angeles Times, 18 Sep. 2026
Definition of mock
Verb
  • Another poll, commissioned by an independent expenditure group supporting Raman, portrayed the race as a statistical tie, at least initially.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 19 Sep. 2026
  • Dostoyevsky’s sniveling devil comes closest to portraying the man chiefly responsible for organizing the Final Solution.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 18 Sep. 2026
Definition of portray
Verb
  • This is thought to happen because the social transmission of stories acts like evolution.
    — Hannah Little, Scientific American, 20 Sep. 2026
  • In June, the co-founder of the citizen watchdog group, DeFlock Idaho, Tyler Cain, filed a pair of tort claims against the cities of Caldwell and Wilder — civil claims which act as possible precursors to lawsuits.
    — Idaho Statesman, Idaho Statesman, 20 Sep. 2026
Definition of act

Browse Nearby Words

personalty
personate
personated
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Personate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/personate. Accessed 21 Sep. 2026.

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