Thesaurus results for PERSONATE

personate

verb

ˈpər-sə-ˌnāt

Definition of personate

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

Verb

Phoenix guard Kelsey Plum did not play against the team that traded her a little over a week ago.

— ABC News, ABC News, 12 Aug. 2026
Knizner had been playing for Boston’s Triple-A affiliate but exercised his opt-out last week (before Susac’s injury), becoming a free agent.

— Justice delos Santos, Mercury News, 12 Aug. 2026

Definition of play

Verb

When her mother brought home a Boswell Sisters record, a young Ella Fitzgerald spent hours imitating the group’s front woman, Connee Boswell, in an effort to learn to sing.

— Brady Brickner-Wood, New Yorker, 5 Aug. 2026
See, for instance, the song the women of the cast performed imitating the fervor for him.

— Brianna Zigler, Entertainment Weekly, 4 Aug. 2026

Definition of imitate

Verb

During the 2024 postseason, Carrington struck Clark directly in the eye, leaving the league's signature star with a visible black eye, then mocked the ensuing public outrage online.

— Alejandro Avila OutKick, FOXNews.com, 9 Aug. 2026
He was criticized for outing LGBTQ+ stars who hadn’t revealed their sexuality publicly, and for bullying others by mocking their misfortune.

— Shirley Halperin, Rolling Stone, 6 Aug. 2026

Definition of mock

Verb

Hundreds of pages of grand jury transcripts portray Tupac Shakur's shooting as a culmination of a longstanding feud between rival record labels Death Row Records and Bad Boy Records and rival gang sects Mob Piru and South Side Compton Crips.

— CBS News, CBS News, 10 Aug. 2026
Juno Temple portrays supermodel and eventual public relations expert Keeley Jones.

— Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 10 Aug. 2026

Definition of portray

Verb

With the leading models becoming ever more powerful, their ability to act in malicious ways is turning into a major threat for corporations and governments, especially as the risk involves hacking into critical computer systems and infrastructure.

— Anniek Bao, CNBC, 10 Aug. 2026
The short-term goal is to host performances by local country acts each month.

— DeAsia Paige, AJC.com, 10 Aug. 2026

Definition of act

Browse Nearby Words

personalty

personate

personated

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Style

“Personate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/personate. Accessed 12 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of personate

verb

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