as in frauds
one who makes false claims of identity or expertise
it turns out that the guy who claimed to work for a modeling agency was just a pretender
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of pretenders
Week 10 kicked off the month with several examples of contenders and pretenders revealing themselves.
—
Erick Smith, USA Today, 3 Nov. 2025
Week 9 of the college football season separated some contenders from pretenders.
—Jordan Sigler, MSNBC Newsweek, 26 Oct. 2025
The contenders, pretenders and everybody in between.
—Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald, 25 Sep. 2025
Adjustments will be made, and by November and December, there will be a much clearer picture of who the contenders and pretenders are.
—Mark Lasota, Forbes.com, 16 Sep. 2025
Crazy as this sport is, all four teams might be pretenders.
—Ken Rosenthal, New York Times, 10 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pretenders
Noun
-
Satire is brilliant for exposing the folly of humans, especially those in power and those working in bad faith—the hypocrites and the frauds—and can be particularly potent when set in irrational or dystopic times.—
-
Notice how these two Third World frauds are in federal custody, not state.—
Noun
-
Today, the same fakes can be flagged using AI developed by a company called N2N Services, said Claudia Lee, Golden West College’s vice president of student services.—
-
Morrisseau’s work, in particular, was the focus of what is believed to be the largest forgery ring of all time, in which several thousand fakes were illegitimately authenticated and sold around the world.—
Noun
-
The shams zip completely closed, so there’s no shifting or falling out of the case.—
-
This brand also offers a variety of contrasting shams, extra monograms, and even matching duvet covers.—
Noun
-
First up was Ben Shapiro, who described Tucker Carlson and others as grifters and charlatans, guilty of misleading their audiences with falsehoods and conspiracy theories.—
Noun
-
And when stuck in this uncomfortable space, people who feel like impostors are likely to become defensive and feel pressured to be a hero.—
-
Now, artificial intelligence has become the latest battleground for digital impostors.—
Noun
-
To tell the truly venomous from the fakers, there are a couple details to help distinguish the two.—
Cite this Entry
“Pretenders.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pretenders. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share