SHAM (shammed, shamming)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: shammed    , shamming   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sham mean? 

• SHAM (noun)
  The noun SHAM has 2 senses:

1. something that is a counterfeit; not what it seems to be

2. a person who makes deceitful pretenses

  Familiarity information: SHAM used as a noun is rare.

• SHAM (adjective)
  The adjective SHAM has 1 sense:

1. adopted in order to deceive

  Familiarity information: SHAM used as an adjective is very rare.

• SHAM (verb)
  The verb SHAM has 2 senses:

1. make a pretence of

2. make believe with the intent to deceive

  Familiarity information: SHAM used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SHAM (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Something that is a counterfeit; not what it seems to be

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

fake; postiche; sham

Hypernyms ("sham" is a kind of...):

imitation (something copied or derived from an original)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sham"):

fake book (a fake in the form of an imitation book; used to fill bookcases of people who wish to appear scholarly)

Potemkin village (something that seems impressive but in fact lacks substance)

Derivation:

sham (make believe with the intent to deceive)

sham (adopted in order to deceive)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A person who makes deceitful pretenses

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

fake; faker; fraud; imposter; impostor; pretender; pseud; pseudo; role player; sham; shammer

Hypernyms ("sham" is a kind of...):

beguiler; cheat; cheater; deceiver; slicker; trickster (someone who leads you to believe something that is not true)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sham"):

name dropper (someone who pretends that famous people are his/her friends)

ringer (a contestant entered in a competition under false pretenses)

Derivation:

sham (make a pretence of)

sham (adopted in order to deceive)

• SHAM (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Adopted in order to deceive

Synonyms:

assumed; false; fictitious; fictive; pretended; put on; sham

Context example:

sham modesty

Similar:

counterfeit; imitative (not genuine; imitating something superior)

Derivation:

sham (something that is a counterfeit; not what it seems to be)

sham (a person who makes deceitful pretenses)

• SHAM (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they sham    ... he / she / it shams   
Past simple: shammed   
Past participle: shammed   
-ing form: shamming   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make a pretence of

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

assume; feign; sham; simulate

Context example:

he feigned sleep

Hypernyms (to "sham" is one way to...):

act; dissemble; pretend (behave unnaturally or affectedly)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "sham"):

play (pretend to be somebody in the framework of a game or playful activity)

feint (deceive by a mock action)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

sham; shammer (a person who makes deceitful pretenses)

shammer (someone shirking their duty by feigning illness or incapacity)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make believe with the intent to deceive

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

affect; dissemble; feign; pretend; sham

Context example:

He shammed a headache

Hypernyms (to "sham" is one way to...):

belie; misrepresent (represent falsely)

Verb group:

make; make believe; pretend (represent fictitiously, as in a play, or pretend to be or act like)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "sham"):

play possum (to pretend to be dead)

take a dive (pretend to be knocked out, as of a boxer)

bull; bullshit; fake; talk through one's hat (speak insincerely or without regard for facts or truths)

mouth (articulate silently; form words with the lips only)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE
Somebody ----s to INFINITIVE

Derivation:

sham (something that is a counterfeit; not what it seems to be)

shammer (a person who makes deceitful pretenses)

shammer (someone shirking their duty by feigning illness or incapacity)

 Context examples 

Recall ability after the sham stimulation generally improved on the morning test by a few percent.

(Sound Waves Boost Older Adult' Memory, Deep Sleep, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

For the experimental and sham group, they sutured the device on the frogs immediately after limb amputation.

(Scientists Help Frogs to Regenerate Their Limbs with Bioreactor Device, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The four people who got the sham stimulation during both visits consumed the same number of calories from the vending machines on each visit and did not lose weight.

(Brain stimulation limits calories consumed in adults with obesity, NIH)

Those with a nerve injury were more sensitive to touch on their hindpaws than the sham controls.

(Opioid Pain Relievers May Prolong Pain, NIH)

There were lockers all round, and Wilson, the sham chaplain, knocked one of them in, and pulled out a dozen of brown sherry.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

If categoryCode = Intervention, subcategoryCode may = Drug (including placebo), Device (including sham), Biological/Vaccine, Procedure/Surgery, Radiation, Behavioral (e.g., Psychotherapy, Lifestyle Counseling), Genetic (including gene transfer, stem cell and recombinant DNA), Dietary Supplement.

(Defined Activity Subcategory Code, NCI Thesaurus/BRIDG)

There was no room in him for sham or artifice.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Her appreciation of the ridiculous was keen, and in all things she unerringly saw and felt, where it existed, the touch of sham, the overshading, the overtone.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Also called sham therapy.

(Placebo therapy, NCI Dictionary)

In the study, 13 participants 60 and older received one night of acoustic stimulation and one night of sham stimulation.

(Sound Waves Boost Older Adult' Memory, Deep Sleep, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)