How to Use sham in a Sentence

sham

1 of 2 noun
  • He claims that the trial was a sham.
  • Their marriage was a sham.
  • She exposed their sham and hypocrisy.
  • Many people believed he could help them, but I knew he was a sham.
  • All of us know this is a sham and a shame.
    — Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 11 Jan. 2026
  • That stat feels like a sham in itself.
    — James L. Edwards Iii, New York Times, 28 May 2026
  • Kristjánsson pointed out that the whole thing was kind of a sham.
    — Zach Helfand, New Yorker, 30 June 2026
  • From shams to throw pillows, this trick works in every space.
    — Cameron Beall, Southern Living, 21 Sep. 2025
  • The reverse side features thin navy and white stripes—on both the quilt and the shams.
    — Stephanie Osmanski, Better Homes & Gardens, 28 Nov. 2025
  • Let’s be fair for a moment — or at least as fair as this sham of a process deserves.
    — Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 21 Jan. 2026
  • Make sure to add the matching shams to your order to complete the look.
    — Yelena Moroz Alpert, Architectural Digest, 13 May 2026
  • The quilt comes with two matching pillow shams for a unified look.
    — Melody Kazel, PEOPLE, 12 Sep. 2025
  • The quilt comes with two matching pillow shams for a unified look.
    — Melody Kazel, PEOPLE, 29 Nov. 2025
  • The package includes a quilt and two pillow shams.
    — Abigail Wilt, Southern Living, 19 Feb. 2026
  • Pair with matching shams to pull the whole look together.
    — Shoko Wanger, Architectural Digest, 19 Feb. 2026
  • The set comes with two shams and is reversible with a simple solid white side.
    — Shea Simmons, Southern Living, 24 Apr. 2026
  • The set comes with two shams and is reversible with a simple solid white side.
    — Shea Simmons, Southern Living, 6 Feb. 2026
  • Still, critics and activists have called the election a sham.
    — Taylor Wilson, USA TODAY, 18 Mar. 2024
  • Plus, the shams have charming fabric ties on the outside, too.
    — Stephanie Osmanski, Better Homes & Gardens, 28 Nov. 2025
  • The election was widely dismissed as a sham.
    — Lorcan Lovett, NPR, 30 Apr. 2026
  • Pair with the brand’s chintz-style floral sheets and shams for a complete bedscape.
    — Shoko Wanger, Architectural Digest, 19 Feb. 2026
  • Pair with matching shams for a complete bedscape.
    — Yelena Moroz Alpert, Architectural Digest, 23 Feb. 2026
  • Included in the set are shams for your pillows and a duvet.
    — Christopher Murray May Earn A Commission If You Buy Through Our Referral Links. This Content Was Created By A Team That Works Independently From The Fox Newsroom., FOXNews.com, 22 Oct. 2025
  • Both the pillow shams and bedding are made with a comfy cotton blend.
    — Sophia Beams, Better Homes & Gardens, 13 Jan. 2026
  • The complete set comes with a cozy bedspread and two matching pillow shams.
    — Mariana Best, Better Homes & Gardens, 5 Feb. 2026
  • The complete set comes with a cozy bedspread and two matching pillow shams to match.
    — Mariana Best, Better Homes & Gardens, 23 Aug. 2025
  • The complete set comes with a cozy bedspread and two matching pillow shams to match.
    — Mariana Best, Better Homes & Gardens, 19 Dec. 2025
  • The complete set comes with a cozy bedspread and two matching pillow shams to match.
    — Mariana Best, Better Homes & Gardens, 8 Oct. 2025
  • The set includes two shams and is available in eight pattern choices.
    — Sheri Kaz, Better Homes & Gardens, 7 Oct. 2025
  • The set includes two shams and is available in eight pattern choices.
    — Sheri Kaz, Better Homes & Gardens, 21 Oct. 2025

sham

2 of 2 adjective
  • The pursuit of youth involved a lot of sham science.
    — Joshua Rothman, New Yorker, 12 June 2026
  • The money would be paid to a sham charity, and then used for bribes.
    — NBC News, 11 Nov. 2021
  • The other would be given sham filters.
    — Linda Carroll, NBC news, 6 Aug. 2025
  • The sham group didn’t decline at all on a rating scale of disease symptoms.
    — Bloomberg, Oc Register, 5 Mar. 2026
  • He was put on the court through a sham process, and his place on the court is an insult to the pursuit of truth and justice.
    — Michelle Ruiz, Vogue, 16 Sep. 2019
  • The set comes with the duvet cover, as well as two sham pillowcases.
    — Madeline Diamond, Travel + Leisure, 11 Apr. 2020
  • This trial wasn’t like so many others where some enrollees get the drug in question and others get a sham dose.
    — Andrew Joseph, STAT, 3 Apr. 2023
  • Instead, there is torture, a sham trial, and a gulag (called laogai).
    — Nr Editors, National Review, 20 June 2019
  • Flores depicts his meetings with those teams as sham interviews.
    — Michael McCann, Sportico.com, 14 Aug. 2025
  • Gates believes a sham audit in Arizona was a petri dish for denialism.
    — Jess Bidgood, BostonGlobe.com, 4 Nov. 2022
  • Some sham surgery studies have proven that treatments are ineffective.
    — Bloomberg, Oc Register, 5 Mar. 2026
  • Court records show that Whitaker ran Loan Starters, a sham business in Texas.
    — Chase Jordan, Charlotte Observer, 22 Feb. 2024
  • The second group used the real and sham purifiers in reverse order.
    — Doug Brugge, The Conversation, 22 Apr. 2026
  • Ledeen died in May, well into his fifth decade of arguing against peace, or at least a sham peace, with Iran.
    — Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, 2 Sep. 2025
  • But prosecutors called it more evidence of their sham love affair.
    — Kevin Krause, Dallas News, 23 July 2021
  • The risk of a sham or counterfeit drives piracy and counterfeiting.
    — Wayne Lonstein, Forbes, 2 Nov. 2021
  • This means that far from just being a sham treatment, placebo is a legitimate tool in your pain toolbox.
    — Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN Money, 26 Aug. 2025
  • Burkhart executed and skimmed money via sham contracts and business deals.
    — Alexandria Burris, IndyStar, 13 Aug. 2025
  • That non-profit, as well as other shell entities, made sham payments to the defendants.
    — Jeff John Roberts, Fortune, 20 Aug. 2020
  • Prosecutors called it more evidence of their sham love affair.
    — Dallas News, 4 Aug. 2022
  • The sham group practiced walking using their natural foot angle.
    — New Atlas, 12 Aug. 2025
  • And these are some of the things that can potentially influence how people perceive the sham treatment.
    — Kevin Purdy, Ars Technica, 26 Sep. 2023
  • Now the junta that ousted her seeks to hold sham polls in December to entrench and legitimize their rule.
    — Kim Aris, Time, 7 Nov. 2025
  • Pathogen exposure and not the sham treatment changed the ants’ behavior in ways that further protected the colony.
    — Diana Gitig, Ars Technica, 26 Nov. 2018
  • After one year, compared with the sham group, the intervention group saw a number of improvements.
    — New Atlas, 12 Aug. 2025
  • In one study, a surgeon gave patients a sham knee surgery, where the surgeon made an incision, but did nothing to the knee before sewing it back up.
    — Avery Hurt, Discover Magazine, 3 June 2022
  • Prosecutors said the women had sham jobs and performed little or no work for Goldstein’s firm.
    — ABC News, 18 Feb. 2026
  • There is no crime within their jurisdiction, forcing her -- get this -- forcing her into a sham hearing.
    — Fox News, 21 Sep. 2018
  • Six months after stopping tirzepatide, the sham group had regained 40% more weight than those who got the real procedure.
    — Ryan Brennan, Sacbee.com, 11 June 2026
  • Six months after stopping tirzepatide, the sham group had regained 40% more weight than those who got the real procedure.
    — Ryan Brennan, Sacbee.com, 13 June 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sham.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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