personate
1 Americanverb (used with object)
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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)
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
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.
Ah, before Liana it had rained without sunshine, when she to-day secretly went over merely into the Temple of Dream, in order only to personate a beloved being, but not to be one.
From Titan: A Romance Vol. II (of 2) by Jean Paul
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 Frith, William Powell
So it occurred to General Funston; “Why not personate the reinforcements called for, the American officers to command the expedition assuming the rôle of captured American prisoners?”
From The American Occupation of the Philippines 1898-1912 by Blount, James H.
Such things are doubtless very wrong, but they are the work of idlers and vagrants, who personate my soldiers.
From Ti-Ping Tien-Kwoh The History of the Ti-Ping Revolution (Volume I) by Lindley, Augustus F.
"Was this sent to you that you might personate the original?"
From Laid up in Lavender by Weyman, Stanley J.
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.
