dissembler

American  

[dih-sem-bler] / dɪˈsɛm blər /

noun

1. a person who gives a false or misleading appearance, or who feigns or pretends something; a fraud or phony.

   I take everyone seriously until they reveal themselves to be liars, dissemblers, shills, or unrepentant hypocrites.

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Etymology

Origin of dissembler

dissemble ( def. ) + -er ¹ ( def. )

Example Sentences

His vaguely lined mien suggests premature strain, which feels at odds with a character we’re to take as an expert dissembler, not to say a sociopath.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 4, 2024

And so it’s been a rough few days for front-runner Boris Johnson, seen as either the next Winston Churchill or an entertaining dissembler, depending.

From Washington Post • Jun. 25, 2019

In my own dealings with Assange, he has often overstated his abilities as a hacker; he is a self-confessed dissembler.

From The New Yorker • Apr. 11, 2019

It’s particularly amazing that this gifted dissembler has received such goodwill at a time when there is such anxiety about fake news and Internet disinformation.

From Slate • Jun. 6, 2017

Semyon Borisovitch talked and talked, pressing Will for details of his life, his family, his home, and Will, a practiced dissembler, answered him fully enough.

From "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman

Related Words

• bigot
• charlatan
• crook
• impostor
• phony
• trickster