Meaning of SHAM
| Pronunciation: | | shum
|
 WordNet Dictionary |
| |
| | Definition: | |
- [n] something that is a counterfeit; not what it seems to be
- [n] a person who makes deceitful pretenses
- [adj] 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"
- [v] make believe; "He feigned that he was ill"; "He shammed a headache"
- [v] make a pretence of; "She assumed indifference, even though she was seething with anger"; "he feigned sleep"
|
| |
| | Websites: | | |
| |
| | Synonyms: | | affect, assume, assumed, counterfeit, dissemble, fake, fake, faker, false, feign, feign, fictitious, fictive, fraud, imitative, imposter, impostor, postiche, pretend, pretended, pretender, pseud, pseudo, put on, role player, shammer, simulate |
| |
| | See Also: | | act, beguiler, belie, bull, bullshit, cheat, cheater, counterfeit, deceiver, dissemble, fake, fake book, feint, forgery, imitation, misrepresent, mouth, namedropper, play, play possum, pretend, ringer, slicker, take a dive, trickster | |
| Webster's 1913 Dictionary |
| |
| | Definition: | |
\Sham\, 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 disappoint; a make-believe;
delusion; imposture, humbug. ``A mere sham.'' --Bp.
Stillingfleet.
Believe who will the solemn sham, not I. --Addison.
2. A false front, or removable ornamental covering.
{Pillow sham}, a covering to be laid on a pillow.
\Sham\, a.
False; counterfeit; pretended; feigned; unreal; as, a sham
fight.
They scorned the sham independence proffered to them by
the Athenians. --Jowett
(Thucyd)
\Sham\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Shammed}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Shamming}.]
1. To trick; to cheat; to deceive or delude with false
pretenses.
Fooled and shammed into a conviction. --L'Estrange.
2. To obtrude by fraud or imposition. [R.]
We must have a care that we do not . . . sham
fallacies upon the world for current reason.
--L'Estrange.
3. To assume the manner and character of; to imitate; to ape;
to feign.
{To sham Abram} or {Abraham}, to feign sickness; to malinger.
Hence a malingerer is called, in sailors' cant, Sham
Abram, or Sham Abraham.
\Sham\, v. i.
To make false pretenses; to deceive; to feign; to impose.
Wondering . . . whether those who lectured him were
such fools as they professed to be, or were only
shamming. --Macaulay.
|
| |
|
|