Crossword Dictionary
impersonator
impersonator, imitator - n
someone who (fraudulently) assumes the appearance of another
synonyms
applicable, applicative, applied, functional, practicable, practical, serviceable, ultrapractical, usable, useable, useful, workable, working
in a sentence
The show included a female impersonator .
He also moonlights as a Hulk Hogan impersonator.
Let this Cleo impersonator, this writer of letters, do what they liked.
The presidential impersonator has not been found.
etymology
1833, "one who embodies the person or character of another;" 1840 as "one who infuses (something) with a personality;" 1842 as "dramatic actor, one who plays a part on stage," from impersonate with Latinate agent noun suffix. Meaning "one who imitates the manners and speech of another" for entertainment (by 1921) perhaps grew from older theatrical use of female impersonator (1876), male impersonator (1874), both once popular stage acts; the first example of the latter was perhaps Miss Ella Wesner, who had a vogue c. 1870: In Britain, blackface performers were called negro impersonators (1906). As a fem. formation, impersonatrix, as if from Latin, is from 1847; impersonatress, as if from French, is from 1881.