Something that is a counterfeit; not what it seems to be.

synonyms: fake, postiche.

Roget 546: untruth, falsehood, lie, story, thing that is not, fib, bounce, crammer, taradiddle^†, whopper; jhuth^†.    forgery, fabrication, invention; misstatement, misrepresentation; perversion, falsification, gloss, suggestio falsi [Lat.]; exaggeration etc. 549.    invention, fabrication, fiction; fable, nursery tale; romance etc. (imagination) 515; absurd story, untrue story, false story, trumped up story, trumped up statement; thing devised by the enemy; canard; shave, sell, hum, traveler's tale, Canterbury tale, cock and bull story, fairy tale, fake; claptrap.    press agent's yarn; puff, puffery (exaggeration) 549.    myth, moonshine, bosh, all my eye and Betty Martin, mare's nest, farce.    irony; half truth, white lie, pious fraud; mental reservation etc. (concealment) 528.    pretense, pretext; false plea etc. 617; subterfuge, evasion, shift, shuffle, make-believe; sham etc. (deception) 545.    profession, empty words; Judas kiss etc. (hypocrisy) 544; disguise etc. (mask) 530.    ... show more

Dutch: bedrog
Polish: podróbka

A person who makes deceitful pretenses.

synonyms: fake, faker, fraud, imposter, impostor, pretender, pseud, pseudo, role player, shammer.

Roget 545: deception; falseness etc. 544; untruth etc. 546; imposition, imposture; fraud, deceit, guile; fraudulence, fraudulency^†; covin^†; knavery etc. (cunning) 702; misrepresentation etc. (falsehood) 544; bluff; straw-bail, straw bid [U.S.]; spoof [Slang].    delusion, gullery^†; juggling, jugglery^†; slight of hand, legerdemain; prestigiation^†, prestidigitation; magic etc. 992; conjuring, conjuration; hocus-pocus, escamoterie^†, jockeyship^†; trickery, coggery^†, chicanery; supercherie^†, cozenage^†, circumvention, ingannation^†, collusion; treachery etc. 940; practical joke.    trick, cheat, wile, blind, feint, plant, bubble, fetch, catch, chicane, juggle, reach, hocus, bite; card sharping, stacked deck, loaded dice, quick shuffle, double dealing, dealing seconds, dealing from the bottom of the deck; artful dodge, swindle; tricks upon travelers; stratagem etc. (artifice) 702; confidence trick, fake, hoax; theft etc. 791; ballot-box stuffing [U.S.], barney [Slang]; brace game [Slang], bunko game, drop game [Slang], gum game [U.S.], panel game [U.S.], shell game, thimblerig, skin game [U.S.].    snare, trap, pitfall, decoy, gin; springe^†, springle^†; noose, hoot; bait, decoy-duck, tub to the whale, baited trap, guet-a-pens; cobweb, net, meshes, toils, mouse trap, birdlime; dionaea^†, Venus's flytrap^†; ambush etc. 530; trapdoor, sliding panel, false bottom; spring-net, spring net, spring gun, mask, masked battery; mine; flytrap^†; green goods [U.S.]; panel house.    Cornish hug; wolf in sheep's clothing etc. (deceiver) 548; disguise, disguisement^†; false colors, masquerade, mummery, borrowed plumes; pattes de velours [Fr.].    mockery etc. (imitation) 19; copy etc. 21; counterfeit, sham, make-believe, forgery, fraud; lie etc. 546; a delusion a mockery and a snare" [Denman], hollow mockery.    whited sepulcher, painted sepulcher; tinsel; paste, junk jewelry, costume jewelry, false jewelry, synthetic jewels; scagliola^†, ormolu, German silver, albata^†, paktong^†, white metal, Britannia metal, paint; veneer; jerry building; man of straw.    illusion etc. (error) 495; ignis fatuus [Lat.] etc. 423; mirage etc. 443.    ... show more

Roget 544: falsehood, falseness; falsity, falsification; deception etc. 545; untruth etc. 546; guile; lying etc. 454; untruth etc. 546; guile; lying etc. v.. misrepresentation; mendacity, perjury, false swearing; forgery, invention, fabrication; subreption^†; covin^†.    perversion of truth, suppression of truth; suppressio veri [Lat.]; perversion, distortion, false coloring; exaggeration etc. 549; prevarication, equivocation, shuffling, fencing, evasion, fraud; suggestio falsi etc. (lie) 546 [Lat.]; mystification etc. (concealment) 528; simulation etc. (imitation) 19; dissimulation, dissembling; deceit; blague^†.    sham; pretense, pretending, malingering.    lip homage, lip service; mouth honor; hollowness; mere show, mere outside; duplicity, double dealing, insincerity, hypocrisy, cant, humbug; jesuitism, jesuitry; pharisaism; Machiavelism, organized hypocrisy;" crocodile tears, mealy-mouthedness^†, quackery; charlatanism^†, charlatanry; gammon; bun-kum^†, bumcombe, flam; bam [Slang], flimflam, cajolery, flattery; Judas kiss; perfidy etc. (bad faith) 940; il volto sciolto i pensieri stretti [It].    unfairness etc. (dishonesty) 940; artfulness etc. (cunning) 702; misstatement etc. (error) 495.    ... show more

Dutch: snoever, vervalser, bedrieger, fraudeur
Polish: impostor

Make a pretence of.

synonyms: assume, feign, simulate.

Dutch: fingeren, simuleren, veinzen, voorgeven, voorwenden

Make believe with the intent to deceive:
— He shammed a headache.

synonyms: affect, dissemble, feign, pretend.

Roget 544: be false etc. adj., be a liar etc. 548; speak falsely etc. adv.; tell a lie etc. 546; lie, fib; lie like a trooper; swear false, forswear, perjure oneself, bear false witness.    misstate, misquote, miscite^†, misreport, misrepresent; belie, falsify, pervert, distort; put a false construction upon etc. (misinterpret); prevaricate, equivocate, quibble; palter, palter to the understanding; repondre en Normand [Fr.]; trim, shuffle, fence, mince the truth, beat about the bush, blow hot and cold, play fast and loose.    garble, gloss over, disguise, give a color to; give a gloss, put a gloss, put false coloring upon; color, varnish, cook, dress up, embroider; varnish right and puzzle wrong; exaggerate etc. 549; blague^†.    invent, fabricate; trump up, get up; force, fake, hatch, concoct; romance etc. (imagine) 515; cry 'wolf!'.    dissemble, dissimulate; feign, assume, put on, pretend, make believe; play possum; play false, play a double game; coquet; act a part, play a part; affect etc. 855; simulate, pass off for; counterfeit, sham, make a show of; malinger; say the grapes are sour.    cant, play the hypocrite, sham Abraham, faire pattes de velours, put on the mask, clean the outside of the platter, lie like a conjuror; hand out false colors, hold out false colors, sail under false colors; commend the poisoned chalice to the lips" [Macbeth]; ambiguas in vulgum spargere voces [Lat.]; deceive etc. 545.    ... show more

Dutch: femelen, huichelen, kwezelen

Adopted in order to deceive:
— Sham modesty.

synonyms: assumed, false, fictitious, fictive, pretended, put on.

Roget 545: deceived etc. v.; deceiving &c.; cunning etc. 702; prestigious^†, prestigiatory^†; deceptive, deceptious^†; deceitful, covinous^†; delusive, delusory; illusive, illusory; elusive, insidious, ad captandum vulgus [Lat.].    untrue etc. 546; mock, sham, make-believe, counterfeit, snide [Slang], pseudo, spurious, supposititious, so-called, pretended, feigned, trumped up, bogus, scamped, fraudulent, tricky, factitious bastard; surreptitious, illegitimate, contraband, adulterated, sophisticated; unsound, rotten at the core; colorable; disguised; meretricious, tinsel, pinchbeck, plated; catchpenny; Brummagem.    artificial, synthetic, ersatz [G.]; simulated etc. 544.    ... show more