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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Example Sentences
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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.
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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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Both Earps and Hampton have played a very similar number of minutes and faced a very similar number of shots, but Earps’ shot-stopping has not been as strong, conceding 1.6 goals more than expected, based on the quality of shots faced.—
Charlotte Harpur,
New York Times,
28 May 2025
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Baty plays second base on days when Vientos starts at the hot corner, and Vientos gets DH days to get Baty at third.—
Abbey Mastracco,
New York Daily News,
28 May 2025
Verb
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Although the vast majority of the campaign emails were impersonating Meta, a small percentage also targeted PayPal users.—
Davey Winder,
Forbes.com,
21 May 2025
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According to the Hudson Valley Post on Monday, scammers have been impersonating police officers and claiming that victims must pay a fine to avoid arrest for failing to appear for jury duty.—
Hugh Cameron,
MSNBC Newsweek,
19 May 2025
Verb
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Walton imitated the big-box retail store and located them in small towns.—
Dileep Rao,
Forbes.com,
23 May 2025
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At Cruise’s behest, McQuarrie’s stunts imitate the most primitive filmmaking — not the awe-inspiring magic of Georges Méliès but the Lumière brothers’ rudimentary documentation of action.—
Armond White,
National Review,
23 May 2025
Verb
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Read: The attack on trans rights won’t end there The impossible becoming possible is a hard thing to process—and easier to reject or mock than to understand.—
Spencer Kornhaber,
The Atlantic,
22 May 2025
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Film director Wes Anderson mocked President Donald Trump over his plan to slap tariffs on foreign films made outside of the United States.—
Billal Rahman,
MSNBC Newsweek,
20 May 2025
Verb
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Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories Tony Martinez as Pepino Garcia Tony Martinez portrayed Pepino, the McCoys’ farmhand who often served as comic relief.—
Tereza Shkurtaj,
People.com,
31 May 2025
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According to Salvador, Maje portrayed herself as a victim of psychological and physical abuse.—
Isadora Wandermurem,
Time,
30 May 2025
Verb
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These tools act as governance sentinels, standing guard at the frontier of change.—
Shazia Manus,
Forbes.com,
23 May 2025
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Skarsgård has been acting since 1968, and in that time has seen the industry reshape itself around streaming, franchises, and finance.—
Andy Hazel,
IndieWire,
23 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Personate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/personate. Accessed 3 Jun. 2025.
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