impersonate
[verb im-pur-suh-neyt; adjective im-pur-suh-nit, -neyt]
- to assume the character or appearance of; pretend to be: He was arrested for impersonating a police officer.
- to mimic the voice, mannerisms, etc., of (a person) in order to entertain.
- to act or play the part of; personate.
- Archaic. to represent in personal or bodily form; personify; typify.
Show More
- embodied in a person; invested with personality.
Show More
Origin of impersonate
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for impersonate
Contemporary Examples
The truth is that anyone in the world could impersonate me, and there is little I can do about it.
A lonely young woman gets drawn into an online forum and is asked to impersonate someone else.
Say one thing for former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, he certainly has the right hair to impersonate Elvis.
10 Celebrity Elvis ImpersonationsAugust 16, 2011
Con artists routinely hack into accounts to impersonate people and bilk money from strangers.
Historical Examples
They intrude here, to impersonate the Nine Worthies before the two Courts.
William ShakespeareJohn Masefield
Now when I am sixty-three I shall begin to impersonate children.
The Merry-Go-RoundCarl Van Vechten
What would he have given to impersonate her lover in the piece!
A LaodiceanThomas Hardy
She proceeded to impersonate both that heroine and Madame La Farge.
The CricketMarjorie Cooke
He used the choruses as Handel did, to impersonate the mass of people.
How Music DevelopedW. J. Henderson
impersonate
- to pretend to be (another person)
- to imitate the character, mannerisms, etc, of (another person)
- rare to play the part or character of
- an archaic word for personify
Show More
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for impersonate
v.
1620s, "to invest with a personality," from assimilated form of Latin in- "into, in" (see in- (2)) + persona "person." Sense of "to assume the person or character of" is first recorded 1715. Earlier in same sense was personate (1610s). Related: Impersonated; impersonating.
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper