I. ə̇mˈpäschə(r) noun
Etymology: Late Latin impostura, from Latin impostus, impositus (past participle of imponere to put upon, impose, deceive, cheat) + -ura -ure — more at impose
1. : the act or practice of imposing on or deceiving someone by means of an assumed character or name : the act or conduct of an impostor
careful not to detect cases of malingering … and thus placed a premium on imposture — G.E.Fussell
2. : an instance of imposture
admitted under oath that the whole defense of insanity was an imposture and a sham — B.N.Cardozo
Synonyms:
cheat , fraud , deceit , deception , counterfeit , sham , fake , humbug , simulacrum : imposture applies to any situation in which a spurious object or action is passed off as genuine and bona fide
its values … are an imposture: pretending to honor and distinction it accepts all that is vulgar and base — Edmund Wilson
cheat applies to any abuse of credence and faith by misleading or trickery and also to delusion induced by the victim's credulousness
though the counts allowed the cheat for fact … and let the tale o' the feigned birth pass for true — Robert Browning
the cheat which still leads us to work and live for appearances — R.W.Emerson
fraud is likely to indicate a calculated perversion of the truth; applied to a person it may be less condemnatory and suggest pretence and hypocrisy
many persons persisted in believing that his supposed suicide was but another fraud — Justin M'Carthy
the pious fraud who freely indulges in the sins against which he eloquently preaches — Oliver LaFarge
deceit indicates anything that deceives or misleads, usually purposefully, and is strongly condemnatory
Indians were … treacherous according to the white man's standards, since they held that the basest trickery or deceit was not dishonorable if directed against a foe — American Guide Series: Rhode Island
deception is often interchangeable with deceit but is used without condemnation in reference to sleights and feints and to innocent or natural characteristics likely to mislead
practice gross deception on the public with all the earnestness of a moral “crusade” — K.S.Davis
a fast backfield trained in deception
counterfeit refers to a close imitation or copy of a thing, usually one made or circulated for dishonest gain
this bill's a counterfeit
in reference to persons or ideas or qualities it suggests spurious although close imitation without culpable intent to deceive
not really a married woman and a housemistress but only a kind of counterfeit — Arnold Bennett
sham is severe in censuring what fraudulently imitates or purports to be a genuine reality
perhaps her devotion to Marcellus was a sham and her real intention was that Agrippa should be goaded into putting him out of the way — Robert Graves
if people would only build on facts, not on shams — Ellen Glasgow
fake refers to something factitious or assumed with plausible closeness to the original, genuine, or true; it may or may not condemn, depending on culpable intent to deceive
Gaston B. Means's volume, The Strange Death of President Harding, … bears every imprint of being a thoroughgoing fake — S.H.Adams
he pretends everything is what it is not, he is a fake — Katherine A. Porter
humbug indicates elaborate pretense, especially so flagrant that it approaches transparency
you're a humbug, sir … I will speak plainer, if you wish it. An imposter, sir — Charles Dickens
these liars warn't no kings nor dukes, at all, but just low-down humbugs and frauds — Mark Twain
simulacrum indicates an image or imitation but usually lacks the suggestion that it is made to defraud; it may indicate an image utterly wanting in essential substance or reality
nothing but a coat and a wig and a mask smiling below it — nothing but a great simulacrum — W.M.Thackeray
something whose essence was not there at all, a stiff lifeless simulacrum — J.C.Powys
II. intransitive verb
obsolete : to practice imposture
transitive verb
1. obsolete : to show to be an imposture
2. obsolete : deceive