Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One who engages in deception under an assumed name or identity.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who imposes on others; a person who practises deception, usually under a false guise or an assumed character.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who imposes upon others; a person who assumes a character or title not his own, for the purpose of deception; a pretender.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Someone who attempts to deceive by using an assumed name or identity.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a person who makes deceitful pretenses

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French imposteur, from Latin impostor, one who assigns a name, from impostus, variant of impositus, past participle of impōnere, to place upon; see impose.]

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Examples

  • Kutz has ever attended BUD/S training, let alone graduated, so your suspected impostor is indeed a fraud.

    Norman Kutz 2010

  • Glad that thise eye winking impostor is fading quickly into the Alaskan sunset.

    I'm 'saddened' by 'vicious attacks' on Palin, McCain says 2009

  • Phony heroes have been around as long as wars, and one way to spot an impostor is to listen to their exaggerated exploits.

    MOH Donlon 2010

  • The Schantags issue "fraud alerts" through e-mail when an impostor is found.

    Heroes or Villains? 2010

  • The case was the first of its kind for the Bay City office, Flattery said, but the medal-wearing impostor is not uncommon.

    Heroes or Villains? 2010

  • I almost wanted to just bring in impostor cats for them to rescue just to validate their efforts.

    Archive 2005-10-01 Slimbolala 2005

  • I almost wanted to just bring in impostor cats for them to rescue just to validate their efforts.

    No Pets Found Inside Slimbolala 2005

  • He is vat you call impostor, cracked; he has vollowed me from Germany.

    The Lunatic at Large 1907

  • He is vat you call impostor, cracked; he has vollowed me from Germany.

    The Lunatic At Large 1905

  • At the word impostor, Paul seemed about to speak, but a wave of

    Caught in the Net ��mile Gaboriau 1852

Comments

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  • Apparently the root verb is "impose". Who knew?

    March 29, 2010