RELATED CONTENT
RELATED WORDS
fraudulent, fictitious, phony, bogus, fraud, farce, mockery, hypocrisy, whitewash, forgery, travesty, fake, dummy, affected, ersatz, mock, assumed, plaster, pretend, pseudo
Nearby words
- shalom,
- shalom aleichem,
- shalosh seudoth,
- shalt,
- shalwar,
- shama,
- shaman,
- shamanic,
- shamanism,
- shamash
Origin of sham
First recorded in 1670–80; origin uncertain
SYNONYMS FOR sham
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for sham
sham
/ (ʃæm) /
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
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
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.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper