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:
This means hackers gain access to data shared on Signal and can also impersonate the person whose account was compromised.
From Barron's ● Apr. 25, 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
One thing that could happen is that your biometric data is stolen and used by hackers to impersonate you.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026
This season, Fey dropped by to impersonate freshly ousted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
From Salon ● Mar. 6, 2026
He could impersonate anybody—from a British general to a drunken farmer.
From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes
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
Staff spotted a suspicious invitation to a meeting earlier on Friday and realised it was "spear-phishing" - which impersonates a trusted source.
From BBC ● May 9, 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
“What happens if an international entity — a cybercriminal or a nation state — impersonates someone. What is the impact? Do we have any recourse?”
From Seattle Times ● May 14, 2023
On Christmas eve some one in the neighborhood impersonates Pelznickel by dressing up as an old man with a long white beard.
From Our Holidays Their Meaning and Spirit; retold from St. Nicholas by Various
More than 60 of its organizations that provide direct legal services have been impersonated by con artists.
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
“It’s constantly happening, and now the scammers are getting really good at it,” says Sarah Englade, founder of Monarch Talent Solutions in Houston, who has been impersonated several times.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 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
“I got on the phone and impersonated Ms. Helton,” she said.
From "City Spies" by James Ponti
“There were too many fake profiles impersonating me,” Barton said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
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
In a desperate effort to get the couple out, Nonie devised a plan involving a fake letter from the water company and a friend impersonating a utility worker.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 4, 2026
I worried so much about how I looked and whether I was doing things right, I felt half the time I was impersonating a girl instead of really being one.
From "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd
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.
