personate
1 Americanverb (used with object)
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personates,
present (3rd person singular)
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personated,
past participle, past
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personating
present participle
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to act or portray (a character in a play, a part, etc.).
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to assume the character or appearance of; pass oneself off as, especially with fraudulent intent; impersonate.
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to represent in terms of personal properties or characteristics; personify.
verb (used without object)
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personates,
present (3rd person singular)
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personated,
past participle, past
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personating
present participle
adjective
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Botany.
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(of a bilabiate corolla) masklike.
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having the lower lip pushed upward so as to close the gap between the lips, as in the snapdragon.
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Zoology.
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having a masked or disguised form, as the larvae of certain insects.
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having masklike markings.
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verb
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to act the part of (a character in a play); portray
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a less common word for personify
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criminal law to assume the identity of (another person) with intent to deceive
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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personatesimple
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personatessimple
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have personatedperfect
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has personatedperfect
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am personatingprogressive
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are personatingprogressive
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is personatingprogressive
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have been personatingperfect progressive
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has been personatingperfect progressive
Past
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personatedsimple
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had personatedperfect
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was personatingprogressive
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were personatingprogressive
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had been personatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of personate1
First recorded in 1590–1600; verb use of Latin persōnātus “wearing a mask, masked”; see origin at person ( def. )
Origin of personate2
First recorded in 1750–60; from New Latin, Latin; persōnātus “masked”; see origin at persona, -ate 1
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:
He was, besides, a ventriloquist, and could thus personate and imitate any character or any voice he chose.
From Auricular Confession and Popish Nunneries Volumes I. and II., Complete by William Hogan
He personate bad Envy; yet say so, He lickt at Homer's mouth, not from below.
From The Complete Works of Richard Crashaw, Volume II (of 2) by Richard Crashaw
Children delight to personate animals; and a fine genius could not better employ itself than in inventing a great many more plays, setting them to rhythmical words, describing what is to be done.
From Guide to the Kindergarten and Intermediate Class and Moral Culture of Infancy. by Mary E. Mann
"He is bold enough," said Gaspard, in a whisper to Albano, "because, as I hear, he is really to personate himself; but when he sees himself so, he is surely better than he sees himself."
From Titan: A Romance Vol. II (of 2) by Jean Paul
An indescribable fear overpowered the countess--but it now seemed to her as if she did not dread the man whom she expected to see, but Him he was to personate.
From On the Cross A Romance of the Passion Play at Oberammergau by Wilhelmine von Hillern
“Everett Quinton personates the oinker as a most sympathetic fellow,” Don Nelsen wrote in a review in The Daily News.
From New York Times ● Jan. 27, 2023
The fourth personates the painter, with his pallet and brushes.
From Home Pastimes; or Tableaux Vivants by James H. Head
Act II. of the First Part of Henry IV., between Falstaff and Prince Hal, wherein Falstaff personates the prince's father.
From Shakespeare's Lost Years in London, 1586-1592 by Arthur Acheson
It resembled that of the stage where the same actor personates both Dromios; and their life was one perpetual Comedy of Errors.
From When Ghost Meets Ghost by William Frend De Morgan
A man holding the Salagram personates the bridegroom, and another holding the sacred Tulsi personates the bride.
From Folklore as an Historical Science by George Laurence Gomme
The real Garlinghouse reported this to Instagram, which took a look ... and then 72 hours later, informed him that after investigating the company had determined that he was not actually being personated.
From The Verge ● Apr. 22, 2020
Dr. Trefusis personated a violinist, sawing upon the air.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
An exceedingly amiable and highly intellectual gentleman is the hero of this piece; a part personated by a M. Lockroi with a degree of ability deserving a worthier employment.
From Paris and the Parisians in 1835 (Vol. 1 of 2) by Frances Milton Trollope
He is crowning an Emperor, who kneels before him, two Cardinals attending, one of whom is ludicrously personated by Death.
From The Dance of Death Exhibited in Elegant Engravings on Wood with a Dissertation on the Several Representations of that Subject but More Particularly on Those Ascribed to Macaber and Hans Holbein by Francis Douce
How completely he personated the characters that he assumed I can testify from comparison with what may be called his originals, the actual Hotspurs and Hamlets, the soldiers and princes, of the real world.
From McClure's Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 3, August, 1893 by Various
Mr. Follingsbee, also in costume, will join you, and together you will attend an up-town masquerade, you personating Mrs. Follingsbee, who will remain at home.”
From Dangerous Ground or, The Rival Detectives by Lawrence L. Lynch
I was told by the man I was personating in these rooms that the whole plot was known.
From Boy Scouts in the Northwest Fighting Forest Fires by G. Harvey (George Harvey) Ralphson
Amongst our number was the celebrated Miss Clara Fisher—famed for her aptitude in personating variety of character, having wonderful powers of mimicry.
From Notes on a Tour Through the Western part of The State of New York by Anonymous
An ambitious man had attained to imperial power by personating the interests of a rapidly growing party.
From History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, Volume I (of 2) Revised Edition by John William Draper
There he had a long talk with a fellow who seemed to be personating a bricklayer.
From Dangerous Ground or, The Rival Detectives by Lawrence L. Lynch
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.
