Sham

6 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Sham \Sham\, a.
     False; counterfeit; pretended; feigned; unreal; as, a sham
     fight.
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           They scorned the sham independence proffered to them by


           the Athenians.                           --Jowett
                                                    (Thucyd)
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Sham \Sham\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Shammed}; p. pr. & vb. n.
     {Shamming}.]
     1. To trick; to cheat; to deceive or delude with false
        pretenses.
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              Fooled and shammed into a conviction. --L'Estrange.
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     2. To obtrude by fraud or imposition. [R.]
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              We must have a care that we do not . . . sham
              fallacies upon the world for current reason.
                                                    --L'Estrange.
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     3. To assume the manner and character of; to imitate; to ape;
        to feign.
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     {To sham Abram} or {To sham Abraham}, to feign sickness; to
        malinger. Hence a malingerer is called, in sailors' cant,
        Sham Abram, or Sham Abraham.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Sham \Sham\, v. i.
     To make false pretenses; to deceive; to feign; to impose.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           Wondering . . . whether those who lectured him were
           such fools as they professed to be, or were only
           shamming.                                --Macaulay.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Sham \Sham\ (sh[a^]m), 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 disappoints; a make-believe;
        delusion; imposture; humbug. "A mere sham." --Bp.
        Stillingfleet.
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              Believe who will the solemn sham, not I. --Addison.
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     2. A false front, or removable ornamental covering.
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     {Pillow sham}, a covering to be laid on a pillow.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  sham
       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" [syn: {assumed}, {false}, {fictitious},
              {fictive}, {pretended}, {put on}]
       n 1: something that is a counterfeit; not what it seems to be
            [syn: {fake}, {postiche}]
       2: a person who makes deceitful pretenses [syn: {imposter}, {impostor},
           {pretender}, {fake}, {faker}, {fraud}, {shammer}, {pseudo},
           {pseud}, {role player}]
       v 1: make a pretence of; "She assumed indifference, even though
            she was seething with anger"; "he feigned sleep" [syn: {simulate},
             {assume}, {feign}]
       2: make believe with the intent to deceive; "He feigned that he
          was ill"; "He shammed a headache" [syn: {feign}, {pretend},
           {affect}, {dissemble}]
       [also: {shamming}, {shammed}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  279 Moby Thesaurus words for "sham":
     Tartuffery, Tartuffism, act, act a part, acting, adulterated,
     affect, affectation, affected, affectedness, airs, airs and graces,
     alibi, ape, apocryphal, apology, appearance, artificial,
     artificiality, assume, assumed, attitudinizing, bastard, blagueur,
     blazon, blind, bluff, bluffer, bluffing, bogus, bravura,
     brilliancy, brummagem, burlesque, cant, caricature, charlatan,
     cheat, cheating, clinquant, cloak, color, colorable, colored,
     coloring, copy, counterfeit, counterfeited, cover, cover story,
     cover up, cover-up, create, daring, dash, deceit, deception,
     delusion, demonstration, device, disguise, display, dissemblance,
     dissemble, dissembling, dissimulate, dissimulation, distorted,
     do a bit, dramatics, dramatize, dressed up, dummy, eclat,
     embellished, embroidered, ersatz, etalage, excuse, exhibition,
     exhibitionism, facade, face, factitious, fake, faked, fakement,
     faker, fakery, faking, false, false air, false front, false show,
     falsified, falsity, fanfaronade, farce, feign, feigned,
     feigned belief, feigning, feint, fictitious, fictive, figure,
     flair, flam, flaunt, flaunting, flourish, forged, forgery,
     four-flush, four-flushing, fourflusher, frame-up, fraud,
     fraudulent, front, gammon, garbled, gilt, gloss, guise, handle,
     histrionics, histrionize, hoax, hokey, humbug, humbuggery,
     hypocrisy, hypocritical, hypocriticalness, illegitimate, image,
     imitate, imitation, impersonator, impostor, imposture, insincerity,
     invent, junk, junky, lame excuse, let on, let on like, lie,
     locus standi, made-up, make a pretense, make as if, make believe,
     make like, make out like, make-believe, malingerer, man-made,
     manifestation, mannerism, mask, masquerade, mere show,
     meretriciousness, mislead, mock, mountebank, ostensible motive,
     ostentation, outward show, overact, pageant, pageantry, parade,
     paste, pecksniffery, perverted, pharisaicalness, pharisaism, phony,
     pinchbeck, plagiarized, plaster, play, play a part, play a scene,
     play possum, playact, playacting, poor excuse, pose, poser, poseur,
     posing, posture, pretend, pretended, pretender, pretense,
     pretension, pretext, profess, protestation, prunes and prisms,
     pseudo, public image, public motive, put on, put on airs, put-off,
     put-on, put-up job, putting on airs, quack, quacksalver, quackster,
     quasi, queer, refuge, representation, ringer, rip-off, saltimbanco,
     sanctimoniousness, sanctimony, screen, seeming, self-styled, sell,
     semblance, shammer, shoddy, show, showing-off, simulacrum,
     simulate, simulated, simulation, smoke screen, snide, so-called,
     soi-disant, speciousness, spectacle, splash, splurge, spoof,
     spurious, staginess, stalking-horse, stratagem, stylishness,
     substitute, subterfuge, supposititious, swindle, synthetic,
     theatrics, tin, tinsel, titivated, travesty, trick,
     tug the heartstrings, twisted, unauthentic, ungenuine, unnatural,
     unnaturalness, unreal, varnish, vaunt, veil, warped, wear,
     whited sepulcher, window dressing