You searched for: “impostor”
impostor, imposter (s) (noun); impostors, imposters (pl)
1. Someone who pretends to be another person in order to deceive others: Sherlock, the clever detective, identified the impostor who tried to mislead the police.
2. A person who practices fraud as another character, identity, or name: Irene, the imposter, inveigled her way into the confidence of the wealthy old man.

People who are spies for their governments often pose as imposters so they can work without revealing their real objectives.

3. Etymology: from about 1586, from Middle French imposteur, from Late Latin impostorem, impostor; from impostus, collateral form of impositus; past participle of imponere, "place upon, impose upon, deceive"; from in-, "in" + ponere, "to put, to place".
Someone who deceives or cheats others; especially, by pretending to be a person or something which he is not.
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This entry is located in the following unit: pon-, posit-, pos-, -poning, -poned, -ponency, -ponent, -ponement, -pound (page 5)
impostor, imposture
impostor (im PAHS tuhr) (noun)
A pretender or someone who engages in deception under an assumed name or identity: The prime minister revealed that his assistant was an impostor, trying to find out secrets in the prime minister’s office.
imposture (im PAHS chuhr) (noun)
Deception by fraudulent impersonation or an instance of deception under an assumed name or identity: The history of crime contains many an incredible imposture.

The imposture by the infamous impostor struck at the heart of the national government, threatening its very existence.

This entry is located in the following unit: Confusing Words Clarified: Group I; Homonyms, Homophones, Homographs, Synonyms, Polysemes, etc. + (page 1)
Word Entries at Get Words: “impostor”
impostor, imposter; impostor, imposters
A person who pretends to be someone he or she is not in order to cheat other people. (1)
This entry is located in the following unit: Word a Day Revisited Index of Cartoons Illustrating the Meanings of Words (page 45)