EN

Synonyms for imposter

  • noun
  • Canadian English

Most common

fake faker fraud charlatan

All synonyms

Noun

1. Fake

fake, faker, fraud, charlatan, pretender, deceiver, swindler, trickster, hypocrite, quack, shyster, cheat, sham, humbug, pseudo, role player, mountebank, dissembler, pseud, shammer, phony informal US, phoney UK

Other

impersonator, fakester

Antonyms

genuine article, real thing, original

All antonyms of imposter →

Definitions

  1. n. 1

    Someone who attempts to deceive by using an assumed name or identity.

Related words

Word family
impostorism impostress impostrix
Other spellings
impostor

Forms

Plural
imposters → fakes, fakers, frauds, charlatans…

Example sentences

  • fake Many consumer reviews of books on Amazon are fake.
  • fraud Academic fraud is more common than you might think.
  • faker That expression is faker than a coin with my face on it.
  • charlatan Elon is the biggest charlatan of the 21st century.
  • impersonator Ryan Chen is a gifted Chinese Trump impersonator.

Popularity over time

Word1850 → 2019Trend
imposterrising
fakerising
fraudrising
fakerrising
charlatanrising
impersonatorrising

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

4 letters
fake1, sham1
5 letters
fraud1, cheat1, phony2, quack1, faker2, pseud
6 letters
pseudo2, phoney2, humbug2
7 letters
shyster2, shammer
8 letters
deceiver, swindler3, fakester
9 letters
hypocrite3, trickster2, pretender3, charlatan3
10 letters
mountebank, dissembler
12 letters
impersonator5

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (phony2 = 2 syllables).

In other languages

Français
impostrice