impostor

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: im=pos=tor

CIDE DICTIONARY

impostor, n. [L. impostor a deceiver, fr. imponere to impose upon, deceive. See Impone.].

 One who imposes upon others; a person who assumes a character or title not his own, for the purpose of deception; a pretender.  Milton.

Syn. -- Deceiver; cheat; rogue. See Deceiver.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

impostor, n. (also imposter)
1 a person who assumes a false character or pretends to be someone else.
2 a swindler.

Derivative

impostorous adj. impostrous adj.

Etymology

F imposteur f. LL impostor (as IMPOST(1))

DEVIL DICTIONARY

impostor

n. A rival aspirant to public honors.

THESAURUS

impostor

ape, beguiler, blagueur, bluff, bluffer, charlatan, cheat, clinquant, con man, confidence man, conformist, copier, copycat, copyist, counterfeit, counterfeiter, cuckoo, deceiver, dissembler, dissimulator, dummy, echo, echoer, echoist, fake, fakement, faker, flimflam man, forger, forgery, fourflusher, frame-up, fraud, hoax, humbug, hypocrite, imitation, imitator, impersonator, imposter, junk, malingerer, mime, mimer, mimic, mimicker, misleader, mock, mocker, mockingbird, monkey, mountebank, parrot, paste, pettifogger, phony, pinchbeck, plagiarist, poll-parrot, polly, polly-parrot, poser, poseur, pretender, put-on, put-up job, quack, quacksalver, quackster, ringer, rip-off, saltimbanco, sham, shammer, shark, sheep, shoddy, shyster, simulacrum, simulator, swindle, swindler, tinsel, trickster, whited sepulcher