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 anassumed name oridentity .
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
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Examples
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Kutz has ever attended BUD/S training, let alone graduated, so your suspected impostor is indeed a fraud.
Norman Kutz 2010
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Glad that thise eye winking impostor is fading quickly into the Alaskan sunset.
I'm 'saddened' by 'vicious attacks' on Palin, McCain says 2009
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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
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The Schantags issue "fraud alerts" through e-mail when an impostor is found.
Heroes or Villains? 2010
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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
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I almost wanted to just bring in impostor cats for them to rescue just to validate their efforts.
Archive 2005-10-01 Slimbolala 2005
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I almost wanted to just bring in impostor cats for them to rescue just to validate their efforts.
No Pets Found Inside Slimbolala 2005
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He is vat you call impostor, cracked; he has vollowed me from Germany.
The Lunatic at Large 1907
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He is vat you call impostor, cracked; he has vollowed me from Germany.
The Lunatic At Large 1905
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At the word impostor, Paul seemed about to speak, but a wave of
Caught in the Net ��mile Gaboriau 1852
sionnach commented on the word impostor
Apparently the root verb is "impose". Who knew?
March 29, 2010