impostor

English

Alternative forms

• imposter
• impostour (obsolete)

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle French imposteur

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpɒstə/
• IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpɑstɚ/
• Hyphenation: im‧pos‧tor

Noun

impostor (plural impostors)

1. Someone who attempts to deceive by using an assumed name or identity.
   • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XX, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

     “I said he had a criminal face.” “He can't help his face.” “He can help being a crook and an impostor. Calls himself a butler, does he? The police could shake that story. He's no more a butler than I am.”

2. (computer graphics) A sprite or animation integrated into a three-dimensional scene, but not based on an actual 3D model.

Synonyms

• impersonator
• See also Thesaurus:deceiver

Hyponyms

• quack

Derived terms

• impostorism
• impostorship
• impostor syndrome
• supernova impostor

 

Translations

someone who uses assumed identity

• Bulgarian: измамник (bg) m (izmamnik), мошеник (bg) m (mošenik)
• Catalan: impostor m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 冒充者

• Czech: podvodník, hochštapler m
• Dutch: bedrieger (nl) m
• Finnish: huijari (fi), toiseksi tekeytyjä
• French: imposteur (fr) m, impostrice f
• Georgian: თვითმარქვია (tvitmarkvia)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: Hochstapler (de) m, Betrüger (de) m
• Hungarian: szélhámos (hu), csaló (hu)
• Italian: impostore (it) m
• Latin: planus m
• Portuguese: impostor (pt) m, impostora f
• Romanian: impostor (ro), impostoare (ro) f
• Russian: самозва́нец (ru) m (samozvánec)
• Serbo-Croatian: samozvanac (sh), varalica (sh)
• Spanish: impostor (es) m, impostora (es) f
• Swedish: bedragare (sv) c

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Portuguese

Noun

impostor m (plural impostores, feminine impostora, feminine plural impostoras)

1. impostor (someone who uses a false identity)

Related terms

• impor
• imposto

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Spanish

Noun

impostor m (plural impostores, feminine impostora, feminine plural impostoras)

1. impostor