Sham \Sham\, a.
   False; counterfeit; pretended; feigned; unreal; as, a sham
   fight.
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         They scorned the sham independence proffered to them by
         the Athenians.                           --Jowett
                                                  (Thucyd)
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	Sham \Sham\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Shammed; p. pr. & vb. n.
   Shamming.]
   1. To trick; to cheat; to deceive or delude with false
      pretenses.
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            Fooled and shammed into a conviction. --L'Estrange.
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   2. To obtrude by fraud or imposition. [R.]
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            We must have a care that we do not . . . sham
            fallacies upon the world for current reason.
                                                  --L'Estrange.
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   3. To assume the manner and character of; to imitate; to ape;
      to feign.
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   To sham Abram or To sham Abraham, to feign sickness; to
      malinger. Hence a malingerer is called, in sailors' cant,
      Sham Abram, or Sham Abraham.
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	Sham \Sham\, v. i.
   To make false pretenses; to deceive; to feign; to impose.
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         Wondering . . . whether those who lectured him were
         such fools as they professed to be, or were only
         shamming.                                --Macaulay.
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	Sham \Sham\ (sh[a^]m), n. [Originally the same word as shame,
   hence, a disgrace, a trick. See Shame, n.]
   1. That which deceives expectation; any trick, fraud, or
      device that deludes and disappoints; a make-believe;
      delusion; imposture; humbug. "A mere sham." --Bp.
      Stillingfleet.
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            Believe who will the solemn sham, not I. --Addison.
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   2. A false front, or removable ornamental covering.
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   Pillow sham, a covering to be laid on a pillow.
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	sham
     adj : adopted in order to deceive; "an assumed name"; "an assumed
           cheerfulness"; "a fictitious address"; "fictive
           sympathy"; "a pretended interest"; "a put-on childish
           voice"; "sham modesty" [syn: assumed, false, fictitious,
            fictive, pretended, put on]
     n 1: something that is a counterfeit; not what it seems to be
          [syn: fake, postiche]
     2: a person who makes deceitful pretenses [syn: imposter, impostor,
         pretender, fake, faker, fraud, shammer, pseudo,
         pseud, role player]
     v 1: make a pretence of; "She assumed indifference, even though
          she was seething with anger"; "he feigned sleep" [syn: simulate,
           assume, feign]
     2: make believe with the intent to deceive; "He feigned that he
        was ill"; "He shammed a headache" [syn: feign, pretend,
         affect, dissemble]
     [also: shamming, shammed]

	

	279 Moby Thesaurus words for "sham":
   Tartuffery, Tartuffism, act, act a part, acting, adulterated,
   affect, affectation, affected, affectedness, airs, airs and graces,
   alibi, ape, apocryphal, apology, appearance, artificial,
   artificiality, assume, assumed, attitudinizing, bastard, blagueur,
   blazon, blind, bluff, bluffer, bluffing, bogus, bravura,
   brilliancy, brummagem, burlesque, cant, caricature, charlatan,
   cheat, cheating, clinquant, cloak, color, colorable, colored,
   coloring, copy, counterfeit, counterfeited, cover, cover story,
   cover up, cover-up, create, daring, dash, deceit, deception,
   delusion, demonstration, device, disguise, display, dissemblance,
   dissemble, dissembling, dissimulate, dissimulation, distorted,
   do a bit, dramatics, dramatize, dressed up, dummy, eclat,
   embellished, embroidered, ersatz, etalage, excuse, exhibition,
   exhibitionism, facade, face, factitious, fake, faked, fakement,
   faker, fakery, faking, false, false air, false front, false show,
   falsified, falsity, fanfaronade, farce, feign, feigned,
   feigned belief, feigning, feint, fictitious, fictive, figure,
   flair, flam, flaunt, flaunting, flourish, forged, forgery,
   four-flush, four-flushing, fourflusher, frame-up, fraud,
   fraudulent, front, gammon, garbled, gilt, gloss, guise, handle,
   histrionics, histrionize, hoax, hokey, humbug, humbuggery,
   hypocrisy, hypocritical, hypocriticalness, illegitimate, image,
   imitate, imitation, impersonator, impostor, imposture, insincerity,
   invent, junk, junky, lame excuse, let on, let on like, lie,
   locus standi, made-up, make a pretense, make as if, make believe,
   make like, make out like, make-believe, malingerer, man-made,
   manifestation, mannerism, mask, masquerade, mere show,
   meretriciousness, mislead, mock, mountebank, ostensible motive,
   ostentation, outward show, overact, pageant, pageantry, parade,
   paste, pecksniffery, perverted, pharisaicalness, pharisaism, phony,
   pinchbeck, plagiarized, plaster, play, play a part, play a scene,
   play possum, playact, playacting, poor excuse, pose, poser, poseur,
   posing, posture, pretend, pretended, pretender, pretense,
   pretension, pretext, profess, protestation, prunes and prisms,
   pseudo, public image, public motive, put on, put on airs, put-off,
   put-on, put-up job, putting on airs, quack, quacksalver, quackster,
   quasi, queer, refuge, representation, ringer, rip-off, saltimbanco,
   sanctimoniousness, sanctimony, screen, seeming, self-styled, sell,
   semblance, shammer, shoddy, show, showing-off, simulacrum,
   simulate, simulated, simulation, smoke screen, snide, so-called,
   soi-disant, speciousness, spectacle, splash, splurge, spoof,
   spurious, staginess, stalking-horse, stratagem, stylishness,
   substitute, subterfuge, supposititious, swindle, synthetic,
   theatrics, tin, tinsel, titivated, travesty, trick,
   tug the heartstrings, twisted, unauthentic, ungenuine, unnatural,
   unnaturalness, unreal, varnish, vaunt, veil, warped, wear,
   whited sepulcher, window dressing