imposter

/ɪmˈpɒstər/

Other forms: imposters

An imposter is a person who pretends to be someone else. Someone who tries to convince you that he's your long lost cousin in order to get an invitation to stay in your awesome apartment is an imposter.

An imposter usually seeks some kind of financial gain when he or she assumes another person's identity, but there can be other motivations, like simply the thrill of doing it. Any imposter who pretends to be the sibling of a famous person, for instance, will get lots of attention. The Latin root is impostorem, "impose upon or deceive." It's more commonly spelled impostor, although both spellings are correct.

Definitions of imposter

1. noun

   a person who makes deceitful pretenses
   synonyms: fake, faker, fraud, humbug, impostor, pretender, pseud, pseudo, role player, sham, shammer

   types:

   name dropper

   someone who pretends that famous people are his/her friends

   ringer

   a contestant entered in a competition under false pretenses

   type of:

   beguiler, cheat, cheater, deceiver, slicker, trickster

   someone who leads you to believe something that is not true