Definition of personatenext
as in to play
to pretend to be (what one is not) in appearance or behavior likes to personate the man of the world, but he's still the small-town hick that he always was

Synonyms & Similar Words

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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 personate Till’s motifs swept though the ensemble, as horns, clarinets, bassoons, violin all had a chance to personate the character. — By Libby Hanssen, kansascity.com, 3 June 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for personate
Verb
  • Reimer played just one previous game this fall, a 35-save shutout in the American Hockey League on Saturday night, before signing an NHL contract for the rest of the season.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 27 Oct. 2026
  • The 2025 expansion team will have an opportunity to secure its first championship banner when Game 6 is played Thursday afternoon in Atlanta.
    — Reuters, NBC news, 27 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • Fielder has made a career out of constructing elaborate social experiments, like building exact replicas of people’s homes and hiring actors to impersonate their loved ones on The Rehearsal.
    — Maxwell Adler, Vanity Fair, 27 Oct. 2026
  • Some scammers impersonate candidates to solicit fraudulent contributions.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 27 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • Criminals can imitate those messages to create panic and lure people toward fake login pages.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 28 Oct. 2026
  • Musks imitate the feeling of a luxe fabric, soft and skin-like, as a fresh set of Frette bedsheets.
    — Loren Savini, Allure, 27 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • As proof of how much of a joke this has become for people is that a sketch mocking their drama was part of the October 10 episode of Saturday Night Live UK.
    — Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 21 Oct. 2026
  • There were earlier versions of this story that were openly mocking of Kip, versions that threw Leo under the bus for being too sly; versions that were too overtly political; versions with ghosts that didn’t need to be there, and so on.
    — Deborah Treisman, New Yorker, 18 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • Beckman portrayed the first lady's work on the ceasefire as an extension of her efforts to help reunite Russian and Ukrainian children with their families after they were separated by Russia's war against Ukraine.
    — BEN FINLEY, Arkansas Online, 24 Oct. 2026
  • Pundits continue to portray the Taiwan Strait as the world’s most dangerous flashpoint; the summit’s agenda suggested otherwise.
    — Ningrong Liu, Fortune, 23 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • After Maduro was deposed, Venezuela's highest court said Rodríguez could serve as acting president for up to 90 days -- an interim appointment that could be extended by the National Assembly for an additional 90 days.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 26 Oct. 2026
  • And yesterday is one of those days when your family ain’t acting right.
    — Charlotte Observer, Charlotte Observer, 25 Oct. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Personate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/personate. Accessed 29 Oct. 2026.

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