faking
Putting it on
Faking is pretending or counterfeiting—making something appear to be what it isn't.
You might be faking an illness to skip work, faking enthusiasm for a gift you don't want, or faking a signature on a document.
She suspected he was faking his limp.
The word implies deliberate deception, though the stakes range from harmless to criminal.
Deliberate deception for effect
- shamFraudulent imitation
- conArgument against
- scamDishonest money-making scheme
- bluffCalculated false front
ruse · feint · ploy · subterfuge · trickery · deceit · guile · dupery
Fraudulent imitation
- falsificationDeliberate alteration of truth
- fabricationDeliberately untrue statement
- doctoringAltering deceptively
- tamperingImproper interference with something
falsifying · forging · phony · bogus · knockoff · replica · fraud · swindle
Pretending to feel something
- actingTemporarily holding position
- playactingInsincere dramatic performance
- pretenseDeceptive outward show
- make-believeImaginative play or fantasy
dissembling · posturing · theatrics · performance · roleplay · charade · masquerade · putting on
Adaptive resemblance to another
- impersonationPretending to be another
- copycatOne who mimics another
- apingImitating closely
- parrotingMechanical verbal imitation
emulation · simulation · mock-up · replica · duplicate · clone · facsimile · carbon copy
hoax
Deliberate deception for effect
bluff · ruse · feint · ploy · subterfuge · trickery · deceit · guile · dupery · bamboozle
counterfeit
Fraudulent imitation
- falsificationDeliberate alteration of truth
- fabricationDeliberately untrue statement
- doctoringAltering deceptively
tampering · falsifying · forging · phony · bogus · knockoff · replica · fraud · swindle · fraudster
feigning
Pretending to feel something
- actingTemporarily holding position
- playactingInsincere dramatic performance
- pretenseDeceptive outward show
make-believe · dissembling · posturing · theatrics · performance · roleplay · charade · masquerade · putting on · fronting
mimicry
Adaptive resemblance to another
- impersonationPretending to be another
- copycatOne who mimics another
- apingImitating closely
parroting · emulation · simulation · mock-up · replica · duplicate · clone · facsimile · carbon copy · mirror
- deceptionlie, lies, lying, fraud, cheat
- dirty trickscheating, lying, deceit, trickery, deception
- misconductmisconduct, bullying, stealing, vandalism, cheating
- putting ondonning, wearing, dressing, trying on, bluffing
- emotional maskingmasking, suppression, repression, hiding, bottling up
- cheatingcheating, scams, cons, tricks, grifting
fakingtelling the truth
being honest · honesty · coming clean · disclosing · confessing
- faking itPerforming authenticity without possessing it
- faking illness
- faking injuryPretending to be hurt
- future fakingInsincere pledges about tomorrow
- faking it until one makes itProjecting unearned confidence strategically
fake, faked, forgery, faker, fakes, fakery, fakers, fakest, unfaked