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
Relevance
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
By Libby Hanssen, kansascity.com, 3 June 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for personate
Verb
-
Sarah Snook, who played Shiv Roy on that HBO drama, was nominated (and went on to win!), following in the footsteps of her costars Jeremy Strong and Keiran Culkin.—
Melissa Locker,
Time,
9 June 2025
-
When Pachuca plays either one, the matches are considered derbies.—
Felipe Cardenas,
New York Times,
8 June 2025
Verb
-
Using tools like deepfakes, cybercriminals can impersonate high-ranking executives with alarming precision, manipulating trust to override judgment.—
Shai Gabay,
Forbes.com,
2 June 2025
-
The White House has launched an investigation into attempts to impersonate President Donald Trump's chief of staff Susie Wiles.—
Jordan King
Shane Croucher,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 May 2025
Verb
-
Life is not imitating art for The White Lotus stars Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood.—
Sydney Bucksbaum,
EW.com,
4 June 2025
-
One example is the achievement of Heinz ketchup in validating its market dominance by showing how art imitates life, and AI imitates humans.—
John Werner,
Forbes.com,
29 May 2025
Verb
-
Gervais also mocked himself during his acceptance speech.—
Wesley Stenzel,
EW.com,
31 May 2025
-
A week later, Rogan mocked Hawass and weighed in again on skeptical theories over who built the pyramids.—
Amira El-Fekki,
MSNBC Newsweek,
31 May 2025
Verb
-
There had been speculative casting information about a new Season 3 series regular role of a sea captain in his 20s that could be who Richardson will portray.—
Nellie Andreeva,
Deadline,
12 June 2025
-
In their sentencing papers, Madigan’s team has portrayed the former speaker as a stalwart defender of Illinois taxpayers against greedy utilities like ComEd, despite efforts to get some of his close associates work with the utility.—
Jason Meisner,
Chicago Tribune,
12 June 2025
Verb
-
Expansion process As Daly noted in a Q&A with The Athletic two weeks ago, the league doesn’t anticipate opening a traditional expansion process as much as continuing to listen to interested parties and perhaps acting on it from there at some point in time.—
Pierre LeBrun,
New York Times,
5 June 2025
-
His complaint alleges Habba and Patel acted outside their formal responsibilities.—
Andrew Goudsward,
USA Today,
4 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Personate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/personate. Accessed 18 Jun. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share