impersonating

verb

present participle of impersonate
1
as in mocking
to pretend to be (what one is not) in appearance or behavior a school intruder was caught trying to impersonate a teacher

Synonyms & Similar Words

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2
as in playing
to present a portrayal or performance of interpreters at the living history museum impersonate figures who are known to have actually lived in the colonial town

Synonyms & Similar Words

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 impersonating Colbert gifted Kimmel his Captain America shield, did a sketch-within-an-interview with his son impersonating a Kiwi police officer, and shaved for our amusement. — Bethy Squires, Vulture, 18 Sep. 2026 Researchers noticed that stores impersonating different companies shared technical characteristics. — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 18 Sep. 2026 Waukegan police are warning of a phone scam involving people impersonating local police. — Clifford Ward, Chicago Tribune, 18 Sep. 2026 Arquette, 55, plays her brother Rob, who opts to also go back to high school while impersonating a teenager. — Virginia Chamlee, PEOPLE, 14 Sep. 2026 The Yuba County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday detained and arrested a 21-year-old man for allegedly impersonating a peace officer on the Yuba College campus in Marysville. — Tania Azhang, Sacbee.com, 29 Aug. 2026 One is the behavior Mythos engaged in, which included spinning up fake GitHub accounts, and, in at least one case, impersonating a real software developer, to try to convince Demir to drop his objections to the dangerous code. — Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 25 Aug. 2026 Getty Images Fraudsters are mailing physical letters to crypto holders, impersonating the IRS and directing recipients to a fake government website. — Shehan Chandrasekera, Forbes.com, 20 Aug. 2026 Goods’ son also got a call the family believes was from someone impersonating his missing mother. — Madison Lambert, NBC news, 19 Aug. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for impersonating
  1. mocking
  2. playing
  3. imitating
  4. portraying
  5. acting
  6. performing
  7. depicting
  8. interpreting
Verb
  • Vrabel was mocking but wasn't necessarily totally accurate, either.
    — Armando Salguero OutKick, FOXNews.com, 5 Oct. 2026
  • Five times in the last two months, the president has sneered at and insulted female reporters, mocking their appearance or dismissing their credentials.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 29 Sep. 2026
Definition of mocking
Verb
  • The Miami Hurricanes are back on the road and playing under the lights in a key Atlantic Coast Conference game.
    — Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 4 Oct. 2026
  • And his relatives in turn gave notes to the actors playing their younger selves and were encouraged to interrogate Ba as his coming-of-age story was dramatized.
    — Etan Vlessing, HollywoodReporter, 4 Oct. 2026
Definition of playing
Verb
  • Speaking of the oversized, the collection’s Handloom Cardigan fits the bill but spares you from imitating a balloon, courtesy of those vertical stripes (also known as the oldest optical trick in the fashion book).
    — Stacia Datskovska, Footwear News, 28 Sep. 2026
  • Her makeup could not be prettier or more ideal for imitating, with its barely-there shimmer shadow, the softest possible wing, and gloss in what appears to be her natural lip color.
    — Marci Robin, Allure, 27 Sep. 2026
Definition of imitating
Verb
  • The Republican candidate for California governor is trying to make a scandal out of his Democratic opponent, Xavier Becerra, portraying himself as the son of Mexican immigrants.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 7 Oct. 2026
  • Cruise is actually playing an actor, Curtis Markson, who in turn is portraying Digger Rockwell in a satirical play called Fossil Fools.
    — Jennifer Ouellette, ArsTechnica, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of portraying
Verb
  • Kylie Jenner is following in her big sister Kim Kardashian’s footsteps and trying out acting.
    — Alejandra Gularte, Vulture, 6 Oct. 2026
  • After his acting career, Kelker-Kelly became a professional pilot.
    — Alexandra Del Rosario, Los Angeles Times, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of acting
Verb
  • His new project, Flop, aims to create a spot market for computing power, where participants are rewarded with Flop tokens for providing GPUs and performing AI inference.
    — Jenny Lee, CNBC, 7 Oct. 2026
  • The Crew-12 astronauts were very busy during their nearly 10 months off Earth, performing a variety of maintenance work and dozens of scientific experiments.
    — Mike Wall, Space.com, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of performing
Verb
  • Johnson talks about researching police work but almost entirely avoiding depicting scenes of it on the page, and also explains why the book transitions from third to first person.
    — Fiction Non Fiction, Literary Hub, 8 Oct. 2026
  • Another powerful work is Steve McQueen’s 1993 film Bear, depicting two Black men wrestling.
    — Hikmat Mohammed, ARTnews.com, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of depicting
Verb
  • Their value will shift from delivering reports to interpreting data, identifying insights, optimizing cross-channel performance and providing strategic guidance that dashboards and AI alone cannot offer.
    — Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 5 Oct. 2026
  • Cautious enthusiasm for radio signal detection Scientists who were not involved with the new research urged caution when interpreting the findings.
    — Jacopo Prisco, CNN Money, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of interpreting

Browse Nearby Words

impersonates
impersonating
impersonation
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Cite this Entry

“Impersonating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/impersonating. Accessed 10 Oct. 2026.

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