personator
Assumes another's guise
A personator is someone who impersonates or pretends to be another person, typically for fraudulent purposes.
The term appears most often in legal contexts—identity theft, voter fraud, benefit fraud—where someone assumes another's identity to gain something unlawfully: The personator used a stolen ID to open credit accounts.
Outside legal usage, impersonator is the more common word.
One who closely resembles another
- doppelgangerSupernatural duplicate of oneself
- imitatorOne who copies others
- pretenderIllegitimate claimant to power
- fakerOne who pretends
poseur · masquerader · copycat · double · stand-in · substitute · mimic · parrot
Stealing personal data criminally
- con artistProfessional fraud perpetrator
- charlatanFaker claiming false expertise
- scammerOne who defrauds others
- phishingFraudulent credential harvesting
catfish · fraudster · swindler · forger · deceiver · grifter · impostor · hoaxer
Copying voices or sounds
- parrotingMechanical verbal imitation
- emulationCopying to rival
- echoReflected sound wave
- apeingMimicking, often badly
mockingbird · simulation · chameleon · ventriloquist · voice actor · sound-alike
Specialist in memorable sidekicks
- impressionistPerformer copying famous voices
- caricaturistArtist of exaggerated likenesses
- costumeClothing for portrayal
- stageRaised performance platform
monologue · audition · rehearsal · script · Marilyn Monroe · satirist · parodist · troupe
lookalike
One who closely resembles another
- doppelgangerSupernatural duplicate of oneself
- imitatorOne who copies others
- pretenderIllegitimate claimant to power
faker · poseur · masquerader · copycat · double · stand-in · substitute · mimic · parrot · phoney
identity theft
Stealing personal data criminally
- con artistProfessional fraud perpetrator
- charlatanFaker claiming false expertise
- scammerOne who defrauds others
phishing · catfish · fraudster · swindler · forger · deceiver · grifter · impostor · hoaxer · confidence man
vocal mimicry
Copying voices or sounds
apeing · mockingbird · simulation · chameleon · ventriloquist · voice actor · sound-alike
character actor
Specialist in memorable sidekicks
- impressionistPerformer copying famous voices
- caricaturistArtist of exaggerated likenesses
- costumeClothing for portrayal
stage · monologue · audition · rehearsal · script · Marilyn Monroe · satirist · parodist · troupe · spotlight
impersonate, impersonator, impersonating, impersonations, impersonators, personate, personation, personates