Sham (Verb)
Meaning 1
Make a pretence of; "She assumed indifference, even though she was seething with anger"; "he feigned sleep".
Classification
Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing.
Examples
- She managed to sham interest in his lengthy and tedious presentation.
- He was shamming concern for the well-being of the environment just to gain votes.
- The student was disciplined for shaming illness to skip classes.
- The employee was accused of shamming incompetence to avoid difficult tasks.
- The politician's smile seemed insincere and appeared to sham genuine friendliness.
Synonyms
Hypernyms
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Related Words
Meaning 2
Make believe with the intent to deceive; "He feigned that he was ill"; "He shammed a headache".
Classification
Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing.
Examples
- He shammed interest in the boring lecture to avoid getting caught sleeping.
- The child shammed a stomachache to get out of going to school on test day.
- She shammed a fainting spell to get attention from the crowd.
- The schemer shammed a sob story to scam people out of their money.
- He shammed a limp to convince the coach he was seriously injured.