Impostor

//ɪmˈpɒstə// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Someone who attempts to deceive by using an assumed name or identity.

    ""It were dishonour in me to yield. I will not play the part of an impostor, whom my uncle must despise even while he screens. No; these estates are his right: let him take them; I will not buy them with his daughter's hand.""

  2. 2
    a person who makes deceitful pretenses wordnet
  3. 3
    A sprite or animation integrated into a three-dimensional scene to look like part of the 3D world.
  4. 4
    A term referenced in an unusual grammatical person.

    "Interestingly, Wang shows that Chinese allows the appearance of an indexical pronoun alongside the imposter, as in (31)."

Synonyms

All synonyms
impersonatorimposterapebeguilerblagueurbluff

Example

More examples

"You call me an Impostor! And why?"

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French imposteur, respelled in the Latin manner; ultimately from Latin impositor, agent form of Latin imponere (“to impose”).

Related phrases

impostor phenomenonimpostor syndromesupernova impostor

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.