sham
Americannoun
adjective
-
pretended; counterfeit; feigned.
sham attacks; a sham Gothic façade.
- Synonyms:
- mock, make-believe, spurious
- Antonyms:
- genuine
-
designed, made, or used as a sham.
verb (used with object)
-
shams,
present (3rd person singular)
-
shammed,
past participle, past
-
shamming
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
shams,
present (3rd person singular)
-
shammed,
past participle, past
-
shamming
present participle
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
verb
Synonym Usage
See false.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
shamsimple
-
shamssimple
-
have shammedperfect
-
has shammedperfect
-
am shammingprogressive
-
are shammingprogressive
-
is shammingprogressive
-
have been shammingperfect progressive
-
has been shammingperfect progressive
Past
-
shammedsimple
-
had shammedperfect
-
was shammingprogressive
-
were shammingprogressive
-
had been shammingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sham
First recorded in 1670–80; perhaps an alteration of shame ( def. ); origin uncertain
Explanation
A sham is a fake. If you frequently order products advertised on late-night, hour-long television commercials, you’ve probably ended up with at least one item that was a sham. All-purpose, industrial strength stain remover, anyone? Sham can be used to refer to people as well as to things. Remember that doctor from the late-night TV commercial advertising UltraMiracleCure vitamin pills? He’s probably a sham, or a quack. Some sources claim that the word sham originated in the 17th century and was derived from the English word shame, but who knows? Maybe that theory’s a sham too.
Vocabulary lists containing sham
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
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Refugee
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This Week in Words: April 1 - 6, 2018
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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:
There is no confession and no announcement; Joyce simply comes to realise, as the secrets accumulate and the women's lives intertwine, that her idea of a monogamous marriage has been a sham all along.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
"They recruited US citizens to engage in sham marriages, arranged sham wedding ceremonies complete with officiants, wedding attire, photographers, and attendees," McDonald said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
“In Madoff, what were called ‘related‑party loans’ were just sham transactions — there was no real economic substance.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
But Dr. Prasad demanded a randomized controlled trial with a placebo group undergoing sham brain surgery.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
I thought if I could shout loudly enough, or move quickly enough, perhaps the earache would return and I would know the medicine had been a sham after all.
From "Educated" by Tara Westover
In Minnesota, some Medicaid autism treatment centers, transportation providers and housing purveyors were shams.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026
Perrigo soon replaced the BDO auditors with ones from EY, who blessed the transactions, which federal regulators now claim are shams.
From New York Times ● Jul. 7, 2022
He knows he can turn proceduralist rules into shams, and he knows most of his staff is either too constrained to do anything about it or unaware of what’s really going on.
From Slate ● Dec. 2, 2021
When they couldn't get answers, that's when they dug into it more, they determined they were shams and they began to short them.
From Salon ● Mar. 31, 2021
“I don’t believe one whit in such shams, nor should you, Nell Warne.”
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
I don’t feel like I got shammed or look like a fool.
From Slate ● Jul. 19, 2018
Then Schaffer came home and he called him in, that the boy might say that he was in bed and undressed; but when Graham entered he shammed sleep.
From Campaigning with Crook and Stories of Army Life by Charles King
One of them stumbled, fell, held his breath and shammed dead.
From The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos
The monsoons or rains had commenced, and this sudden news distressed all the ladies exceedingly; but no faint-hearted husband shammed sick to remain behind.
From Memoirs of the Extraordinary Military Career of John Shipp Late a Lieut. in His Majesty's 87th Regiment by John Shipp
‘Well,’ it will be answered, ‘but he ran away on 268 Gadshill; and when Douglas attacked him he fell down and shammed dead.’
From Oxford Lectures on Poetry by Andrew Cecil Bradley
In a sense, then, because the shamming always happened openly, the revelation that it was shamatory feels underwhelming.
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2021
I also saw him, of course, at exercise continually, and I saw that he was becoming insane, and was being treated as if he was shamming.
From Slate ● Jun. 16, 2018
We hope that, like the seemingly mad Edgar in King Lear, Daryl is just shamming – and that he will, like the Shakespearean dissembler, cast off his mask and take out the evil trash.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 14, 2016
If your point is that Peter is only shamming about his politics, how do you explain this willingness to be imprisoned for them?
From The Guardian ● Oct. 5, 2010
He was not even sure if Cluny was shamming, pretending that his injuries were severe merely as some kind of test or trap that he had set for his captains.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
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.
