Sham
[ʃæm]
Definition
(n.) That which deceives expectation; any trick, fraud, or device that deludes and disappoint; a make-believe; delusion; imposture, humbug.
(n.) A false front, or removable ornamental covering.
(a.) False; counterfeit; pretended; feigned; unreal; as, a sham fight.
(v. t.) To trick; to cheat; to deceive or delude with false pretenses.
(v. t.) To obtrude by fraud or imposition.
(v. t.) To assume the manner and character of; to imitate; to ape; to feign.
(v. i.) To make false pretenses; to deceive; to feign; to impose.
Checker: Phelps
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. Feign, pretend, make pretence of.
n. Imposture, imposition, trick, fraud, feint, delusion, humbug, pretence, clap-trap.
a. Pretended, false, assumed, counterfeit, mock, spurious, clap-trap, make-believe, not real.
Editor: Miriam
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Phantom, ghost, delusion, illusion, mockery, shadow, pretence, counterfeit,unreality
ANT:Substance, reality, verity, substantiality, truth
Edited by Albert
Definition
n. a pretence: that which deceives expectation: imposture.—adj. pretended: false.—v.t. to pretend: to feign: to impose upon.—v.i. to make false pretences:—pr.p. sham′ming; pa.t. and pa.p. shammed.—ns. Sham′-fight a fight in imitation of a real one; Sham′mer one who shams.—Sham Abraham (see Abraham-man).
Editor: Warren
Examples
- The festivities of a show began with a ceremonial procession (_pompa_) and a sham fight (_pr?lusio_). H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Allan Woodcourt sees that this is not a sham. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- There were lockers all round, and Wilson, the sham chaplain, knocked one of them in, and pulled out a dozen of brown sherry. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- There was no sham and no cheat, and no hollow unreal in him. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Edison was intolerant of sham and shoddy, and nothing would satisfy him that could not stand cross-examination by microscope, test-tube, and galvanometer. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- The British Ministry of Reconstruction and its foreign equivalents were exposed as a soothing sham. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- She did not believe in her own universals--they were sham. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- They hate shams and the watering of goods on a more trustworthy basis than the mere routine moralist. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- And you shall have a black satin dress for Sundays--a real satin, not a satinet or any of the shams. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- I dare say, but a certain amount of hypocrisy is necessary in this world of shaMs Maurice looked at Count Constantine with an amused smile. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- He might only be asleep or shamming. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- I knew he was shamming,' said Fang, as if this were incontestable proof of the fact. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- I shammed ill at dinner; and so secured the whole of the interval from then till tea-time to my own use. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- He was found there, making his observations--and he shammed drunk, as the easiest way of getting out of the difficulty. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
Checker: Norris