sham

"They recruited US citizens to engage in sham marriages, arranged sham wedding ceremonies complete with officiants, wedding attire, photographers, and attendees," McDonald said.

From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026

Madoff’s brother, Peter, pleaded guilty to receiving $15.7 million in sham loans and giving $9.9 million in sham loans to family members.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026

But Dr. Prasad demanded a randomized controlled trial with a placebo group undergoing sham brain surgery.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026

Dozens of dogs kept in sham animal shelters and used for online scamming have been rescued by police and animal rights organisations in Uganda following a BBC investigation.

From BBC ● May 13, 2026

They know this lecture is a sham just as much as I do, but none of them are willing to stand up and lose what little standing they have with the mayor.

From "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland

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

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

The price of layers adds up, though, so when you choose bedding, you may want to start with the basics, then add decorative elements, such as throws, shams and quilts, over time.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 22, 2021

The history of race relations in Durham was, after all, a long line of such shams extending back for a century.

From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson

I don’t feel like I got shammed or look like a fool.

From Slate ● Jul. 19, 2018

In fact, half of his sickness was shammed.

From Raiding with Morgan by Byron A. (Byron Archibald) Dunn

To escape service in the front-line trenches the soldiers shammed gas-poisoning and resorted to other devices to avoid duty.

From The Story of the Great War, Volume VII (of VIII) American Food and Ships; Palestine; Italy invaded; Great German Offensive; Americans in Picardy; Americans on the Marne; Foch's Counteroffensive. by Various

Then Schaffer came home and he called him in, that the boy might say that he was in bed and undressed; but when Graham entered he shammed sleep.

From Campaigning with Crook and Stories of Army Life by Charles King

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

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

In a sense, then, because the shamming always happened openly, the revelation that it was shamatory feels underwhelming.

From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2021

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