verb

impersonate

ihm-PUR-suh-nayt

verb

To pretend to be someone else, often to deceive or entertain.

"He was arrested for impersonating a police officer."

"The comedian impersonates famous politicians on stage."

(computing) To act with the access rights of a different user account.

"The admin tool lets support staff impersonate a user to debug their account."

How to Use Impersonate

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishTo pretend to be somebody else, whether as a scam, a joke, or a technical trick.

Easily confused with

personify

Common pairings

impersonate an officer impersonate a celebrity

impersonated past tense, impersonates singular

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Can you complete this real example?

The comedian _____ famous politicians on stage.

From im- + person + -ate, literally "to put into a person."

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