impersonate
Americanverb (used with object)
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impersonates,
present (3rd person singular)
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impersonated,
past participle, past
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impersonating
present participle
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to assume the character or appearance of; pretend to be.
He was arrested for impersonating a police officer.
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to mimic the voice, mannerisms, etc., of (a person) in order to entertain.
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to act or play the part of; personate.
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Archaic. to represent in personal or bodily form; personify; typify.
adjective
verb
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to pretend to be (another person)
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to imitate the character, mannerisms, etc, of (another person)
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rare to play the part or character of
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an archaic word for personify
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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impersonatesimple
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impersonatessimple
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have impersonatedperfect
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has impersonatedperfect
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am impersonatingprogressive
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are impersonatingprogressive
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is impersonatingprogressive
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have been impersonatingperfect progressive
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has been impersonatingperfect progressive
Past
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impersonatedsimple
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had impersonatedperfect
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was impersonatingprogressive
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were impersonatingprogressive
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had been impersonatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of impersonate
Explanation
Impersonate means to pretend to be someone you're not. If you impersonate a bank teller in order to gain access to the money in the vault, you better hope nobody at the bank asks you any questions. Impersonate comes from the Latin in and persona, meaning "to invest with a personality." It often is used to describe someone posing as someone else for criminal purposes, but you can also impersonate someone for comedic effect. You may have seen actors on television do this. They impersonate politicians and celebrities by wearing wigs and makeup and try to match the famous person's mannerisms and way of speaking as closely as possible.
Vocabulary lists containing impersonate
The Secret Life of Bees
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Rebound
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for February 5–February 11, 2022
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
For example, they can be trained to impersonate someone.
From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026
Detectives believe someone used the elder Hou’s cellphone to impersonate him for more than a month.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2026
This season, Fey dropped by to impersonate freshly ousted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
From Salon ● Mar. 6, 2026
Ninety-six people were prosecuted for attempting to cheat on driving tests or impersonate candidates in the 12 months to September last year.
From BBC ● Jan. 20, 2026
If I tried to impersonate a British person, like that, Libby would tell me I’m working too hard and ruining the scene.
From "Better Nate Than Ever" by Tim Federle
This can occur when a company impersonates an airline’s customer-service number or site, often by buying a sponsored ad on a search platform.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026
Worries about AI stretch back nearly a hundred years to the film Metropolis, in which a robot impersonates a real woman.
From BBC ● May 25, 2025
Taylor fondly impersonates the roving sweet potato vendor who shouted into his loudspeaker: “All you little children playing in the sand, go tell your mama, ‘Here’s the Sweet Potato Man!’”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2024
He impersonates a Massachusetts fan of the Kennedys named Jimmy, sounding like Ben Affleck in a Dunkin’ Donuts commercial.
From New York Times ● May 8, 2024
The person who desires to receive initiation into the Midē´wigân, under such circumstances, impersonates Minabō´zho, as he is believed to have penetrated the country of the abode of shadows, or ne´-ba-gī´-zis—“land of the sleeping sun.”
From The Mide'wiwin or "Grand Medicine Society" of the Ojibwa Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1885-1886, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1891, pages 143-300 by Walter James Hoffman
Marissa Montes, the director of Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic, was impersonated by someone who contacted immigrants through Facebook and Whatsapp, she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
In San Diego, attorneys working for the city have been impersonated by scammers.
From Salon ● May 2, 2026
Writing tool Grammarly has disabled an AI feature which mimicked personas of prominent writers, including Stephen King and scientist Carl Sagan, following a backlash from people impersonated.
From BBC ● Mar. 12, 2026
The bill says a plaintiff “shall receive statutory damages in an amount of $6,250 per incident in any action in which the plaintiff establishes that the defendant falsely impersonated a union representative.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 28, 2025
Dumbledore smiled at Harry and directed him toward a chair not unlike the one that Slughorn had so recently impersonated, which stood right beside the newly burning fire and a brightly glowing oil lamp.
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
Earlier this year, Sony Music told the BBC it had requested the removal of more than 135,000 songs by people impersonating its artists on streaming services.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
A San Ysidro man is accused of a fake green card scheme, impersonating ICE agents and defrauding Orange County residents, prosecutors say.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 16, 2026
Maria met the scammer impersonating Prince Hamdan bin Mohammed, also known by his pen name Fazza, on a dating site before the conversation moved to a messaging app where he bombarded her with romantic messages.
From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026
The scammers who have been bombarding American smartphones with fake messages about packages and toll-road fines have pivoted to impersonating the phone companies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
There are laws against impersonating workers in any profession, but no law preventing anyone from impersonating a scythe.
From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
