Impostorous

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Relating to or resembling a person who falsely pretends to be another, especially in order to deceive others for gain
2. Showing the deceptive pretence of someone who passes themselves off as a different person to mislead those around them
3. Having the qualities of a fraud who assumes a false identity or misrepresents who they really are

Etymology: "Impostorous" is an adjective meaning deceitful or fraudulent in the manner of an impostor. It is formed from "impostor" plus the suffix "-ous," which English uses to turn nouns into adjectives meaning "full of" or "having the character of" (as in "famous" or "monstrous"). The noun "impostor" itself entered English in the early 1600s, borrowed from French "imposteur," which came from Latin "impostor," meaning a deceiver, from "imponere," to impose upon or deceive. The adjective is much rarer than its noun. Writers have occasionally reached for it when they wanted to describe behaviour, claims, or pretences that felt like a fraud, but most English speakers would simply say "deceptive" or "fraudulent" instead. Because the suffix is attached to an existing noun, the word carries no separate history of its own, and its meaning follows directly from the noun it was built on.

Synonyms: deceptive, fraudulent, deceitful, dishonest

Antonyms: honest, genuine, authentic