sham
Americannoun
adjective
-
pretended; counterfeit; feigned.
sham attacks; a sham Gothic façade.
- Synonyms:
- mock, make-believe, spurious
- Antonyms:
- genuine
-
designed, made, or used as a sham.
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
noun
-
anything that is not what it purports or appears to be
-
something false, fake, or fictitious that purports to be genuine
-
a person who pretends to be something other than he is
adjective
verb
Related Words
See false.
Other Word Forms
- shammer noun
- unshammed adjective
Etymology
Origin of sham
First recorded in 1670–80; perhaps an alteration of shame ( def. ); origin uncertain
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Clark left the city in 2020, a year after the FBI raided City Hall as part of the criminal investigation related to the sham lawsuit.
From Los Angeles Times
The Narges Foundation, which supports her, described the hearing on Saturday as a "sham" and explained she had begun a hunger strike on 2 February.
From BBC
Marcos is facing a public firestorm over sham infrastructure projects meant to control flooding in the archipelago country, where typhoon-driven rains submerged entire towns last year.
From Barron's
He, his employer and the US authorities denounced the case as a sham.
From BBC
It allows authorities to deny treaty benefits if offshore investment structures are deemed to be sham entities with little commercial substance - even when investors hold valid documentation.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
