personating

verb

present participle of personate
as in mocking
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

Recent Examples of Synonyms for personating
  1. mocking
  2. impersonating
  3. playing
  4. imitating
  5. portraying
  6. acting
Verb
  • 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
  • British publications have fewer qualms, generally, about mocking the dead.
    — Dan Piepenbring, Harpers Magazine, 4 Aug. 2026
Definition of mocking
Verb
  • Officials in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, are warning about scammers who are impersonating local officials to get money from residents.
    — Laura Fay, CBS News, 5 Aug. 2026
  • Someone impersonating Melendez initially called 311, a non-emergency number, on April 10 and said his father shot his sister, giving the address for Melendez.
    — Adam Sabes, FOXNews.com, 4 Aug. 2026
Definition of impersonating
Verb
  • But camp is about more than just a wide receiver playing well.
    — Chad Graff, New York Times, 4 Aug. 2026
  • Carys made her professional stage debut in June, playing Nina in Anton Chekhov’s tragicomedy The Seagull in Brooklyn.
    — Adam England, PEOPLE, 4 Aug. 2026
Definition of playing
Verb
  • Later in the game, Cleveland’s José Ramírez was seen in the dugout apparently imitating Yan’s airborne style of rejoicing.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 6 Aug. 2026
  • 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
Definition of imitating
Verb
  • As the Korean Peninsula swelters through a heat wave, North Korean state media has touted everything from dog-meat soup to chicken broth as ways to cope, while portraying Kim Jong Un as a leader who endures harsh conditions alongside his people.
    — Reuters, NBC news, 7 Aug. 2026
  • Hyde-Smith, first appointed and then elected in 2018, is using a familiar playbook of portraying her Democratic opponent as too liberal for Mississippi.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of portraying
Verb
  • Her exit follows the resignations last week of acting Chief Financial Officer Steve Mahr and Deputy CFO Noor Shaikh in June — coming after CFO Jill Jaworski departed at the beginning of this year.
    — Alice Yin, Chicago Tribune, 4 Aug. 2026
  • Before pivoting to acting, Ali was himself a high level athlete, playing Division I basketball at Saint Mary’s on a full scholarship.
    — Sportico Staff, Sportico.com, 3 Aug. 2026
Definition of acting
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.

Browse Nearby Words

personates
personating
personator
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Cite this Entry

“Personating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/personating. Accessed 10 Aug. 2026.

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