as in frauds
one who makes false claims of identity or expertise
it turns out that the guy who claimed to work for a modeling agency was just a pretender
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Recent Examples of pretenders
The Cult of the Beaver has to fend off pretenders.
—
Aj Willingham, AJC.com, 13 Jan. 2026
Momentum hardens, vulnerabilities are exposed and the gap between contenders and pretenders is out in the open.
—Clayton Davis, Variety, 7 Jan. 2026
With the monetary system in a free-fall, some Iranians would rather have a beneficent king than all these pretenders oh-so-interested in the people.
—Editorial Board, Washington Post, 5 Jan. 2026
The Patriots are contenders, the Bears pretenders.
—Jerry McDonald, Mercury News, 4 Dec. 2025
Discernment in separating potential winners from the pretenders is a positive, if sometimes manic and messy, process.
—Michael Santoli, CNBC, 10 Nov. 2025
As the difference between contenders and pretenders becomes clearer each week, the Seahawks took a significant step Sunday toward cementing themselves as a team to be reckoned with down the line.
—Michael-Shawn Dugar, New York Times, 10 Nov. 2025
Week 10 kicked off the month with several examples of contenders and pretenders revealing themselves.
—Erick Smith, USA Today, 3 Nov. 2025
Week 9 of the college football season separated some contenders from pretenders.
—Jordan Sigler, MSNBC Newsweek, 26 Oct. 2025
Aj Willingham, AJC.com, 13 Jan. 2026
Momentum hardens, vulnerabilities are exposed and the gap between contenders and pretenders is out in the open.
—Clayton Davis, Variety, 7 Jan. 2026
With the monetary system in a free-fall, some Iranians would rather have a beneficent king than all these pretenders oh-so-interested in the people.
—Editorial Board, Washington Post, 5 Jan. 2026
The Patriots are contenders, the Bears pretenders.
—Jerry McDonald, Mercury News, 4 Dec. 2025
Discernment in separating potential winners from the pretenders is a positive, if sometimes manic and messy, process.
—Michael Santoli, CNBC, 10 Nov. 2025
As the difference between contenders and pretenders becomes clearer each week, the Seahawks took a significant step Sunday toward cementing themselves as a team to be reckoned with down the line.
—Michael-Shawn Dugar, New York Times, 10 Nov. 2025
Week 10 kicked off the month with several examples of contenders and pretenders revealing themselves.
—Erick Smith, USA Today, 3 Nov. 2025
Week 9 of the college football season separated some contenders from pretenders.
—Jordan Sigler, MSNBC Newsweek, 26 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pretenders
Noun
-
Once recruited, victims were allegedly forced to conduct romance scams, fake cryptocurrency investment schemes and other online frauds targeting victims abroad.—
Dylan Butts,
CNBC,
16 Feb. 2026
-
The frauds have grown nearly in lockstep with the growth of the industry.—
Dana O’Neil,
CNN Money,
11 Jan. 2026
Noun
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In a world where there are more and more deep fakes and questions about what content represents, this project – and football itself – taps into something real.—
John Hopewell,
Variety,
17 Feb. 2026
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The overwhelming motive for the early fakes was to provide entertainment — about three-quarters of the images in the exhibition were created for this purpose, Rooseboom said.—
Lianne Kolirin,
CNN Money,
5 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
The package includes a quilt and two pillow shams.—
Abigail Wilt,
Southern Living,
19 Feb. 2026
-
Ralph Lauren’s Valeria Euro shams are a welcome contrast to the light and airy bedding seen elsewhere on this list.—
Shoko Wanger,
Architectural Digest,
19 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Carl Sagan's baloney detection kit taught us how to separate good science from the work of charlatans.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
10 Feb. 2026
-
First up was Ben Shapiro, who described Tucker Carlson and others as grifters and charlatans, guilty of misleading their audiences with falsehoods and conspiracy theories.—
Jonathan J. Cooper,
Fortune,
19 Dec. 2025
Noun
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According to the Federal Trade Commission, imposters posing as government agencies were one of the top reported scams in the Arizona, costing consumers more than $20 million in 2025.—
Miguel Torres,
AZCentral.com,
26 Jan. 2026
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And when stuck in this uncomfortable space, people who feel like impostors are likely to become defensive and feel pressured to be a hero.—
John M. LaVelle,
The Conversation,
9 Dec. 2025
Noun
-
To tell the truly venomous from the fakers, there are a couple details to help distinguish the two.—
Kirsten Fiscus,
Nashville Tennessean,
17 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Pretenders.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pretenders. Accessed 27 Feb. 2026.
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