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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After Tuesday’s game at Miami, the Braves have two more divisional games with the Marlins yet to play, followed by a home series against a hot-hitting Washington Nationals team (also within the division) this weekend.—
Ken Sugiura,
AJC.com,
20 May 2026
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Charles Melton plays an American GI named Private K who’s trying to locate his daughter and keeps getting into bloody altercations.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
20 May 2026
Verb
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Another person whom Ferrell had fun impersonating was Jeopardy host Alex Trebek in Celebrity Jeopardy skits.—
Caroline Blair,
PEOPLE,
17 May 2026
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That scheme involved operatives impersonating recruiters and executive search consultants on LinkedIn and Telegram and then sending unwitting job-seeking targets standard technical coding tests laced with malware.—
Amanda Gerut,
Fortune,
14 May 2026
Verb
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Researchers will wear sensors while carrying out laboratory tasks, allowing the system to capture movements, workflows, and decision-making patterns that robots can later imitate.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
18 May 2026
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What makes the campaign especially convincing is that each stage imitates familiar Apple, Google or Microsoft software behavior many Mac users already trust and routinely encounter.—
Davey Winder,
Forbes.com,
18 May 2026
Verb
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Huxley might easily have written a simpler novel glorifying intellectuals while mocking Stoyte’s greed and indifference to suffering.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
21 May 2026
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The reflections and depth of artistry were mocked.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
20 May 2026
Verb
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As the normies, Teller and his naive wife, portrayed by Scarlett Johansson, feel like kids playing dress-up.—
Amy Nicholson,
Los Angeles Times,
19 May 2026
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That means seducing Paris Carver, Elliot's wife and Bond's ex, portrayed by Teri Hatcher.—
John Russell,
PEOPLE,
19 May 2026
Verb
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After a week’s buildup, acts from 25 countries are taking to the stage at the Wiener Stadthalle arena in Vienna to battle for the continent’s pop crown.—
Jill Lawless,
Chicago Tribune,
16 May 2026
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Capricorns offer advice and guidance (even though Maverick can act as a hothead on occasion), but from a distance, allowing their mentees to make mistakes before learning lessons.—
Lisa Stardust,
PEOPLE,
16 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Personate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/personate. Accessed 23 May. 2026.
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