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Glite Dictionary
🎭 To pretend to be 💻 To use another identity
to impersonate

to impersonate

2 7.9
Pretend to be another user or service on a computer network to get access
  • verb
  • /ɪmˈpɜrsəˌneɪt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : suplantar
  • Teddy either stole that unmarked off a cop, or he's impersonating a cop.
  • impersonate an account
  • impersonating a police officer

Healthcare providers were also impersonated by criminals who stole funds directed towards those who were treating COVID patients.

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Examples

  • Authentication mechanisms using hardware and software tokens are also vulnerable to MITM attacks in which an attacker impersonates the service (e.g., banking service) to the user and vice versa.

    Blog text (24)

  • The hacker was able to impersonate the bank's official website to steal users' login credentials.

  • It's just a system so that people don't impersonate me or whatever.

    Brain Blaze

  • Point to a single instance in which someone has voted by impersonating someone else, and I will take your post seriously.

    Blog text (28)

  • These people have already caused one crash... - ..by impersonating our tower.

    Die Hard 2 (1990)

  • Healthcare providers were also impersonated by criminals who stole funds directed towards those who were treating COVID patients.

    Patrick Boyle

  • Apparently, after impersonating the CyanogenMod leader Steve Kondik for his own personal gain and getting caught, things have turned sour.

    Blog text (20)

  • She tampered with and deleted data, deleted user accounts, changed passwords, and sent messages impersonating others using their credentials and who knows what else.

    Blog text (28)

  • Of concern, DOD interrogators impersonating Supervisory Special Agents of the FBI told a detainee that REDACTED.

    Blog text (28)

  • To gain unauthorized access, the attacker attempted to impersonate a trusted user within the network.

Antonyms

to authenticate
  • Specialized
35 6.7

Show that something is real or that a person is who they say they are

How Authorized

to authenticate
  • Specialized
35 6.7
to act as
199 2.6
to impersonate
  • Specialized
2 7.9
to spoof
3 6.0
to forge
  • NSFW
66 7.1

Surface Forms

impersonate infinitive
impersonated past
impersonated past participle
impersonating present participle
impersonates third person singular

Morphology

impersonate = imperson (semi-transparent) = im + person + ate

The suffix '-ate' is clear, but the specific meaning of assuming a digital identity is not immediately obvious.

Etymology

Impersonate comes from the Latin parts in- 'in' and persona 'mask' or 'person', and a helpful way to remember the tech meaning is to think of a program 'putting on' someone else's mask online; that's why in computing to impersonate is to act as another user or take another account's identity.