sham

[sham]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR sham ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

something that is not what it purports to be; a spurious imitation; fraud or hoax.

a person who shams; shammer.

a cover or the like for giving a thing a different outward appearance: a pillow sham.

adjective

pretended; counterfeit; feigned: sham attacks; a sham Gothic façade.

designed, made, or used as a sham.

verb (used with object), shammed, sham·ming.

to produce an imitation of.

to assume the appearance of; pretend to have: to sham illness.

verb (used without object), shammed, sham·ming.

to make a false show of something; pretend.

Origin of sham

First recorded in 1670–80; origin uncertain

Related formsun·shammed, adjective

Synonyms for sham

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR sham ON THESAURUS.COM

1. pretense. 4. spurious, make-believe, simulated, mock. See false. 6. imitate. 7. feign, fake.

Antonyms for sham

4. genuine.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for sham

fraudulent, fictitious, phony, bogus, fraud, farce, mockery, hypocrisy, whitewash, forgery, travesty, fake, dummy, affected, ersatz, mock, assumed, plaster, pretend, pseudo

Examples from the Web for sham

Contemporary Examples of sham

Also in 1997, Hayes entered a sham marriage with a Nigerian immigrant, for which she was paid $5,000.
The Crazy Oregon Governor Race Just Got Crazier
Tim Mak
October 14, 2014
Then came the admission of a sham marriage with an immigrant.
The Crazy Oregon Governor Race Just Got Crazier
Tim Mak
October 14, 2014
But for the literalists who simply must know, who must look behind the curtain, who must see if Oz is real or a sham?
Holy Homophobia, Batman! A Queer Reading of the Dark Knight
Rich Goldstein
July 26, 2014
As the pyramid grew, the teen struggled to manage his responsibilities at home, in school and with his sham company.
He Bullies Kids and Calls It News
Brandy Zadrozny
June 26, 2014
The protest and legal action had been a sham, Mrs. Kasem said.
Casey Kasem's Family's Top 40 Meltdown Moments
Tim Teeman
June 3, 2014

Historical Examples of sham

But women must beware of sham emotion and lachrymose sentimentality.
The Truth About Woman
C. Gasquoine Hartley
Will this country ever escape the tutorship of sham science?
Diary from November 12, 1862, to October 18, 1863
Adam Gurowski
And whether the one or the other, it is a sham more pernicious than the worst.
The Book of Khalid
Ameen Rihani
It is only sham battles that cost something less than blood.
Things as They Are
Amy Wilson-Carmichael
It is a veritable 'sham,' having no relation to fact, or to truth of any kind.
Phaedrus
Plato

British Dictionary definitions for sham

sham

noun

anything that is not what it purports or appears to be

something false, fake, or fictitious that purports to be genuine

a person who pretends to be something other than he is

adjective

counterfeit or false; simulated

verb shams, shamming or shammed

to falsely assume the appearance of (something); counterfeitto sham illness

Derived Formsshammer, noun

Word Origin for sham

C17: perhaps a Northern English dialect variant of shame

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for sham

1670s, "a trick, a hoax, a fraud," also as a verb and an adjective, of uncertain origin; the words burst into use in 1677. Perhaps from sham, a northern dialectal variant of shame (n.); a derivation OED finds "not impossible." Sense of "something meant to be mistaken for something else" is from 1728. The meaning "false front" in pillow-sham (1721) is from the notion of "counterfeit." Related: Shammed; shamming; shammer. Shamateur "amateur sportsman who acts like a professional" is from 1896.