sham
Frequently Asked Questions
- The “charity” event was a sham—it was just an excuse for a tax write-off.
- I knew something about him seemed fake, but I didn’t expect him to turn out to be a complete sham.
- The dictator is known for holding sham elections to give the appearance of legitimacy.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The commission found City had arranged "sham" commercial deals with a number of its sponsors that were part of a "disguised funding scheme".
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
The club was found to have artificially inflated revenue through "sham" sponsorship agreements with the help of its owners.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
The sham thrust to the forefront a growing problem: Law enforcement agencies across the country increasingly are receiving photos and other evidence that’s been manipulated or wholly generated with artificial intelligence, experts say.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
Among the independent panel's findings were that City arranged "sham contracts" with a number of commercial partners as part of a scheme to disguise secret funding of more than £830m.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
We had to endure it alone, we had to put up this show, this miserable, sham performance for the sake of all these people I did not know and did not want to see again.
From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier
In Minnesota, some Medicaid autism treatment centers, transportation providers and housing purveyors were shams.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026
Falsified images and propaganda have been misleading people to worse ends for many years, but these recent shams are evidence of a culture-wide abandonment of a common reality.
From Salon ● Jan. 21, 2026
Perrigo soon replaced the BDO auditors with ones from EY, who blessed the transactions, which federal regulators now claim are shams.
From New York Times ● Jul. 7, 2022
He knows he can turn proceduralist rules into shams, and he knows most of his staff is either too constrained to do anything about it or unaware of what’s really going on.
From Slate ● Dec. 2, 2021
“I don’t believe one whit in such shams, nor should you, Nell Warne.”
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
I don’t feel like I got shammed or look like a fool.
From Slate ● Jul. 19, 2018
Each of our rooms was visited, but we were all in bed and shammed being asleep, and pretended we knew nothing of the noise that had taken place.
From The Gentleman Cadet His Career and Adventures at the Royal Military Academy Woolwich by A.W. Drayson
All that meant she did not love him;—she might have shammed the love.
From The Browning Cyclop?dia A Guide to the Study of the Works of Robert Browning by Edward Berdoe
‘Well,’ it will be answered, ‘but he ran away on 268 Gadshill; and when Douglas attacked him he fell down and shammed dead.’
From Oxford Lectures on Poetry by Andrew Cecil Bradley
Some shammed mortal illness: "You see I am at my last gasp."
From History of the Commune of 1871 by P. Lissagary
We have become so inured to all the shamming in plain sight that having it confirmed years later barely even feel like news.
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2021
When a man grows insane, they treat him as shamming.
From Slate ● Jun. 16, 2018
We hope that, like the seemingly mad Edgar in King Lear, Daryl is just shamming – and that he will, like the Shakespearean dissembler, cast off his mask and take out the evil trash.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 14, 2016
If your point is that Peter is only shamming about his politics, how do you explain this willingness to be imprisoned for them?
From The Guardian ● Oct. 5, 2010
He was not even sure if Cluny was shamming, pretending that his injuries were severe merely as some kind of test or trap that he had set for his captains.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
Vocabulary lists containing sham
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Refugee
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
This Week in Words: April 1 - 6, 2018
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
