impersonation

American  

[im-pur-suh-ney-shuhn] / ɪmˌpɜr səˈneɪ ʃən /

noun

1. the act of pretending to be someone else, with intent to mislead or deceive.

   The argument for requiring voter IDs is that states must guard against impersonation and other flagrant voter fraud.

2. the act of mimicking the voice, mannerisms, etc., of another person, usually someone well-known and especially in order to entertain.

   As a youth worker he found he could make teenagers laugh by doing impersonations of movie stars.

3. the act of playing the part of a character in a play.

   In the one-woman play, her impersonations of minor characters don't ring with authenticity, and her body movements are a bit severe.

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Etymology

Origin of impersonation

im- ¹ ( def. ) + personat(e) ¹ ( def. ) + -ion ( def. )

Explanation

Impersonation is when someone pretends to be another person. If you pretend to be your twin brother all day at school, that's impersonation. There are a few different forms of impersonation — some of them are harmless, like comedians who use impersonation to mimic the voices and mannerisms of famous people, or actors who play historical figures in movies. Other kinds of impersonation are harmful, including when a thief takes someone's identity (including Social Security number and bank information) in order to steal their money. Impersonation has the Latin roots in-, "into," and persona, "person."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

impersonation

Although he has gone into hiding saying he fears for his life, he has said he will appear in court later this month to answer charges including forgery and impersonation.

From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026

Others that begin well and then fall over: Mr. David does a fairly dead-on impersonation of Joseph McCarthy, but the sketch has nowhere else to go and so turns frantic.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026

But it was an AI clone, making the American mother yet another victim of a growing wave of impersonation scams.

From Barron's ● Jun. 3, 2026

A staple of his stump speech is an impersonation of the president.

From Slate ● May 19, 2026

Brian, typically, started doing an impersonation of Mom carrying on and sobbing, but no one was laughing, so he picked up his books and walked out of the house.

From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls