sham
from
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
sham
adj 1: adopted in order to deceive; "an assumed name"; "an
assumed cheerfulness"; "a fictitious address"; "fictive
sympathy"; "a pretended interest"; "a put-on childish
voice"; "sham modesty" [syn: {assumed}, {false},
{fictitious}, {fictive}, {pretended}, {put on}, {sham}]
n 1: something that is a counterfeit; not what it seems to be
[syn: {fake}, {sham}, {postiche}]
2: a person who makes deceitful pretenses [syn: {imposter},
{impostor}, {pretender}, {fake}, {faker}, {fraud}, {sham},
{shammer}, {pseudo}, {pseud}, {role player}]
v 1: make a pretence of; "She assumed indifference, even though
she was seething with anger"; "he feigned sleep" [syn:
{simulate}, {assume}, {sham}, {feign}]
2: make believe with the intent to deceive; "He feigned that he
was ill"; "He shammed a headache" [syn: {feign}, {sham},
{pretend}, {affect}, {dissemble}]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Sham \Sham\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Shammed}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Shamming}.]
1. To trick; to cheat; to deceive or delude with false
pretenses.
[1913 Webster]
Fooled and shammed into a conviction. --L'Estrange.
[1913 Webster]
2. To obtrude by fraud or imposition. [R.]
[1913 Webster]
We must have a care that we do not . . . sham
fallacies upon the world for current reason.
--L'Estrange.
[1913 Webster]
3. To assume the manner and character of; to imitate; to ape;
to feign.
[1913 Webster]
{To sham Abram} or {To sham Abraham}, to feign sickness; to
malinger. Hence a malingerer is called, in sailors' cant,
Sham Abram, or Sham Abraham.
[1913 Webster]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Sham \Sham\ (sh[a^]m), n. [Originally the same word as shame,
hence, a disgrace, a trick. See {Shame}, n.]
1. That which deceives expectation; any trick, fraud, or
device that deludes and disappoints; a make-believe;
delusion; imposture; humbug. "A mere sham." --Bp.
Stillingfleet.
[1913 Webster]
Believe who will the solemn sham, not I. --Addison.
[1913 Webster]
2. A false front, or removable ornamental covering.
[1913 Webster]
{Pillow sham}, a covering to be laid on a pillow.
[1913 Webster]
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
279 Moby Thesaurus words for "sham":
Tartuffery, Tartuffism, act, act a part, acting, adulterated,
affect, affectation, affected, affectedness, airs, airs and graces,
alibi, ape, apocryphal, apology, appearance, artificial,
artificiality, assume, assumed, attitudinizing, bastard, blagueur,
blazon, blind, bluff, bluffer, bluffing, bogus, bravura,
brilliancy, brummagem, burlesque, cant, caricature, charlatan,
cheat, cheating, clinquant, cloak, color, colorable, colored,
coloring, copy, counterfeit, counterfeited, cover, cover story,
cover up, cover-up, create, daring, dash, deceit, deception,
delusion, demonstration, device, disguise, display, dissemblance,
dissemble, dissembling, dissimulate, dissimulation, distorted,
do a bit, dramatics, dramatize, dressed up, dummy, eclat,
embellished, embroidered, ersatz, etalage, excuse, exhibition,
exhibitionism, facade, face, factitious, fake, faked, fakement,
faker, fakery, faking, false, false air, false front, false show,
falsified, falsity, fanfaronade, farce, feign, feigned,
feigned belief, feigning, feint, fictitious, fictive, figure,
flair, flam, flaunt, flaunting, flourish, forged, forgery,
four-flush, four-flushing, fourflusher, frame-up, fraud,
fraudulent, front, gammon, garbled, gilt, gloss, guise, handle,
histrionics, histrionize, hoax, hokey, humbug, humbuggery,
hypocrisy, hypocritical, hypocriticalness, illegitimate, image,
imitate, imitation, impersonator, impostor, imposture, insincerity,
invent, junk, junky, lame excuse, let on, let on like, lie,
locus standi, made-up, make a pretense, make as if, make believe,
make like, make out like, make-believe, malingerer, man-made,
manifestation, mannerism, mask, masquerade, mere show,
meretriciousness, mislead, mock, mountebank, ostensible motive,
ostentation, outward show, overact, pageant, pageantry, parade,
paste, pecksniffery, perverted, pharisaicalness, pharisaism, phony,
pinchbeck, plagiarized, plaster, play, play a part, play a scene,
play possum, playact, playacting, poor excuse, pose, poser, poseur,
posing, posture, pretend, pretended, pretender, pretense,
pretension, pretext, profess, protestation, prunes and prisms,
pseudo, public image, public motive, put on, put on airs, put-off,
put-on, put-up job, putting on airs, quack, quacksalver, quackster,
quasi, queer, refuge, representation, ringer, rip-off, saltimbanco,
sanctimoniousness, sanctimony, screen, seeming, self-styled, sell,
semblance, shammer, shoddy, show, showing-off, simulacrum,
simulate, simulated, simulation, smoke screen, snide, so-called,
soi-disant, speciousness, spectacle, splash, splurge, spoof,
spurious, staginess, stalking-horse, stratagem, stylishness,
substitute, subterfuge, supposititious, swindle, synthetic,
theatrics, tin, tinsel, titivated, travesty, trick,
tug the heartstrings, twisted, unauthentic, ungenuine, unnatural,
unnaturalness, unreal, varnish, vaunt, veil, warped, wear,
whited sepulcher, window dressing
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