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
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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
By Libby Hanssen, kansascity.com, 3 June 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for personate
Verb
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Sarah Snook, who played Shiv Roy on that HBO drama, was nominated (and went on to win!), following in the footsteps of her costars Jeremy Strong and Keiran Culkin.—
Melissa Locker,
Time,
9 June 2025
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While some sleep or watch movies, a small group plays poker.—
Jordan McPherson,
Miami Herald,
8 June 2025
Verb
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Using tools like deepfakes, cybercriminals can impersonate high-ranking executives with alarming precision, manipulating trust to override judgment.—
Shai Gabay,
Forbes.com,
2 June 2025
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The White House has launched an investigation into attempts to impersonate President Donald Trump's chief of staff Susie Wiles.—
Jordan King
Shane Croucher,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 May 2025
Verb
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Fortunately, Lehane is a great enough crime author to be able to imitate a terrible one(*), and being more overt about that helps to better establish who Dave is.—
Alan Sepinwall,
Rolling Stone,
17 June 2025
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In a clever flex of corporate synergy, Apple promoted its first summer blockbuster with the release of a haptic trailer that imitates the purr of an F1 engine in the palms of your hands.—
David Ehrlich,
IndieWire,
17 June 2025
Verb
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Some right wingers will watch to mock the protesters or watch for signs of violence.—
Chris Morris,
Fortune,
14 June 2025
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The Baloncesto Superior Nacional league announced Tuesday that Cousins was kicked off the Mets de Guaynabo after a vile gesture toward a fan, grabbing his genitals to mock the fan as the fan flipped both his middle fingers.—
Scott Thompson,
FOXNews.com,
11 June 2025
Verb
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There had been speculative casting information about a new Season 3 series regular role of a sea captain in his 20s that could be who Richardson will portray.—
Nellie Andreeva,
Deadline,
12 June 2025
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In their sentencing papers, Madigan’s team has portrayed the former speaker as a stalwart defender of Illinois taxpayers against greedy utilities like ComEd, despite efforts to get some of his close associates work with the utility.—
Jason Meisner,
Chicago Tribune,
12 June 2025
Verb
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Katie Miller, who at one point acted as DOGE spokesperson and is married to White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, has left to work for Musk.—
Stephen Fowler,
NPR,
16 June 2025
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Waheed spent several months shooting one video while teaching himself writing, filming, editing, and acting.—
Steven Bertoni,
Forbes.com,
16 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Personate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/personate. Accessed 20 Jun. 2025.
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