What does personate mean?
Personate is a formal verb meaning to impersonate someone, especially by assuming their identity or presenting oneself as them. The word often appears in legal or dramatic language: a person may be accused of personating a police officer, a customer, or another individual. In literary and theatrical contexts, personate can also describe an actor portraying a character with such conviction that the portrayal seems to become that character. Its precise meaning should be understood in context, because “to personate X” can imply either deceiving people by being mistaken for X or convincingly representing X in fiction or performance. Compared with the familiar verb “impersonate,” personate has a somewhat literary and specialized tone. It is related through the Latin persona, originally a theatrical mask, to words such as person, personal, and personality.
verbTo impersonate another person or assume their identity. In literary or theatrical contexts, it can also mean to portray or represent a character convincingly.
- To impersonate another person or assume their identity.
- To portray or represent a character, especially in fiction, drama, or performance.
"The actor was accused of personating an official while carrying forged documents."
"The witness said the accused had been personating a bank employee."
"In the adaptation, she personates the vanished queen with remarkable authority."
Personate belongs to a family of words built from the theatrical mask: persona leads to person, personal, and personality.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does personate come from?
Personate was formed in the early 17th century from the Latin persona, meaning “mask” or “character,” together with the verb-forming suffix -ate. The same Latin source underlies English person and personal and contributed to related words such as personality. The original sense concerned taking on a character or identity; modern usage retains both impersonation and portrayal, especially in legal and literary contexts.
Related word forms
How personate is actually used
Personate is relatively formal and literary. It is more common in contexts involving deception, legal descriptions of identity fraud, or performance than in everyday conversation.
Easily confused with personate
Personate means to impersonate someone or act as another person, whereas personify means to represent an abstraction, idea, or object as a person.