imposture

American  

[im-pos-cher] / ɪmˈpɒs tʃər /

noun

1. the action or practice of imposing fraudulently upon others.

2. deception using an assumed character, identity, or name, as by an impostor.

3. an instance or piece of fraudulent imposition.

   Synonyms:

   cheat, humbug, deception, swindle, hoax, fraud

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imposture British  

/ ɪmˈpɒstrəs, ɪmˈpɒstərəs, ɪmˈpɒstʃə /

noun

1. the act or an instance of deceiving others, esp by assuming a false identity

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Other Word Forms

• impostrous adjective
• imposturous adjective

Etymology

Origin of imposture

1530–40; < Late Latin impostūra, equivalent to Latin impost ( us ) past participle of impōnere ( impostor, impone ) + -ūra -ure

Example Sentences

Tony Schwartz, who wrote “The Art of the Deal,” which falsely presented Trump as its primary author, told me that he feels some responsibility for facilitating Trump’s imposture.

From The New Yorker • Dec. 27, 2018

If you’re really attached to Picabia’s great Dada years, you may try to justify these garish paintings as yet another imposture – as a decades-long ironic commentary on the fiction of originality.

From The Guardian • Nov. 23, 2016

Although steering clear of most details of his personal life, he does treat us to tasty morsels of inside dope, as well as his father’s lurid adventures in bankruptcy and imposture.

From Washington Post • Nov. 16, 2016

The imposture is clumsy and tentative, which Laurel blames on amnesia from the accident.

From New York Times • Feb. 7, 2014

I schooled myself to face forward with greater looks of despond, that we might not be detected in our imposture.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson