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
Verb
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Ricky Gervais has hosted the Golden Globes five times, making Hollywood sweat with his take-no-prisoners approach to jokes mocking showbiz.—
William Earl,
Variety,
30 Dec. 2025 -
Now Sweeney, 75, is breaking his silence on a decades-long feud with Chevy Chase after Chase proposed Sweeney appear in an SNL sketch mocking the AIDS epidemic.—
Seth Abramovitch,
HollywoodReporter,
30 Dec. 2025
Verb
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In 2024, the BBC found several bots impersonating British teenagers Brianna Ghey, who was murdered in 2023, and Molly Russell, who died by suicide at 14 after viewing online material related to self-harm.—
Beatrice Nolan,
Fortune,
29 Oct. 2025
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From fake invoices to urgent messages impersonating company executives, phishing attacks are growing more personalized, more sophisticated—and more effective.—
Melissa Fleur Afshar,
MSNBC Newsweek,
29 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Nobody will hold Gjoshe to his hopeful timescale of playing again within a month.—
Philip Buckingham,
New York Times,
8 Nov. 2025
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What's the most difficult part of playing a character like Peter?—
Lauren Huff,
Entertainment Weekly,
7 Nov. 2025
Verb
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An investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said hackers accessed the system by imitating a legitimate user account.—
Charlotte Reck,
CNN Money,
9 Nov. 2025
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Life isn’t quite imitating art for Kim Kardashian.—
Jodi Guglielmi,
Rolling Stone,
8 Nov. 2025
Verb
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The Venezuelan government has denied these allegations, portraying the agency as essential to defending national sovereignty against coups and foreign intervention.—
Antonio María Delgado,
Miami Herald,
6 Jan. 2026
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He was best known for portraying Randy Benton on NBC's long-running Western The Virginian.—
Brendan Le,
PEOPLE,
5 Jan. 2026
Verb
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During takeoff and subsonic flight, for example, an ACE can open extra bypass ducts, effectively acting like a turbofan, quieter and efficient.—
Christopher McFadden,
Interesting Engineering,
8 Nov. 2025
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Outside of acting, Swit was a painter and a vocal animal rights activist.—
Angela Andaloro,
PEOPLE,
8 Nov. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Personating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/personating. Accessed 7 Jan. 2026.
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