personating

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
Verb
  • These contrivances became so well known that, in 2009, the All-American Rejects guitarist Nick Wheeler spent much of his appearance mocking them.
    Kim Hew-Low, The Atlantic, 10 Nov. 2025
  • The music video is a single shot of Welch in the back of a car, singing along in a suit, sporting shades and a cigar, both mocking and inhabiting the position of male dominance.
    Grace Byron, New Yorker, 6 Nov. 2025
Verb
  • 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
  • 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
  • Nobody will hold Gjoshe to his hopeful timescale of playing again within a month.
    Philip Buckingham, New York Times, 8 Nov. 2025
  • What's the most difficult part of playing a character like Peter?
    Lauren Huff, Entertainment Weekly, 7 Nov. 2025
Verb
  • 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
  • Life isn’t quite imitating art for Kim Kardashian.
    Jodi Guglielmi, Rolling Stone, 8 Nov. 2025
Verb
  • His political heirs have also tried to redeem his image in the last decade, portraying him instead as a strong leader who brought stability to the country.
    Jessie Yeung, CNN Money, 11 Nov. 2025
  • Angels counsel has attempted to discredit these former employees, portraying them as bitter because of their dismissals from the club.
    Sam Blum, New York Times, 10 Nov. 2025
Verb
  • 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
  • Outside of acting, Swit was a painter and a vocal animal rights activist.
    Angela Andaloro, PEOPLE, 8 Nov. 2025
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.

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Cite this Entry

“Personating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/personating. Accessed 15 Nov. 2025.

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