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:
Then, having consulted his watch, he took from his pocket-book a letter, addressed to the man he was about to personate, and refreshed his memory.
From The Duke Decides by Headon Hill
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
By his counsel the god celebrated a sham marriage with a wooden image, dressed up to personate Plataea, daughter of Asopus.
From Myth, Ritual And Religion, Vol. 2 (of 2) by Andrew Lang
Whether in these boxes full of beauties one amongst them is intended by Leech to personate Mr. Smith’s “dreadfully bored” young lady, I cannot say.
From John Leech, His Life and Work. Vol. 1 by William Powell Frith
Anybody who could pretend for a moment to suppose that Mr. Eglinton by "making up" could personate "Abdullah" must be a fool.
From There is no Death by Florence Marryatt
“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 gentleman who personates Prince Albert should, in general outline of features and form, resemble the original as much as possible.
From Home Pastimes; or Tableaux Vivants by James H. Head
In this game, one boy personates the Stag, and with his hands closed together, starts from his bounds after the other players.
From The Book of Sports: Containing Out-door Sports, Amusements and Recreations, Including Gymnastics, Gardening & Carpentering by William Martin
She represents the greatest drama in the world's history, yea, she personates the whole of the world's history.
From The Agony of the Church (1917) by Nikolai Velimirović
They are arranged and costumed in the following manner: Standing on a pedestal six feet high, in the centre of the stage, is a female who personates the Goddess of Fame.
From Home Pastimes; or Tableaux Vivants by James H. Head
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
With him it was easy to deal, poor wretch! but the clever rogues who had employed him and personated the members of the honourable firm of Bluestone & Fagg were never traced.
From Uncanny Tales by Mrs. Mary Louisa Molesworth
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
That all this might be even reconcilable with the fact of his marriage to the woman who had personated the sister, Arthur easily comprehended.
From Gabriel Conroy by Bert Harte
At the sight of him I quite forgot that I was personating a man, and would have liked to have fallen down before him and kissed his hand.
From Eyes Like the Sea by Mór Jókai
Anastasia was again personating Mary, the countess instantly recognized her pure, clear tones, and the meeting in the fields ten years before came back to her mind--not without a throb of jealous emotion.
From On the Cross A Romance of the Passion Play at Oberammergau by Wilhelmine von Hillern
Great caution will be used in the distribution, to prevent fraud in personating deceased officers, &c.
From Mr. Punch on the Warpath Humours of the Army, The Navy and The Reserve Forces by Various
This part of the story might be true or not; but certain it was that the ladies had gone away in the company of some one who was personating Luis de Hauteroche.
From The Guerilla Chief And other Tales by Mayne Reid
The loathsome sight of men personating characters which do not and cannot belong to them.
From The Life and Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Volume I (of 2) by Florence A. Thomas Marshall
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.
