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 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
Israel dismissed the report as a "libellous sham".
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026
Leo agreed with Nemesis about one thing: good luck was a sham.
From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan
In Minnesota, some Medicaid autism treatment centers, transportation providers and housing purveyors were shams.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 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
Tatyana Stanovaya, founder and CEO of R.Politik, an independent think tank on Russian politics, thinks Putin doesn’t want to rush the referendums and run the risk of them being denounced as shams.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 3, 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
Some people shammed away this confession, and said he was non compos mentis; and had a mind, it seems, to assume the glory of being hanged for the greatest villain.
From An Historical Narrative of the Great and Terrible Fire of London, Sept. 2nd 1666 by Gideon Harvey
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
He shammed drunk next day, so that you should not suspect him.
From The Rider of Waroona by G. Firth Scott
The doctor who was called prescribed for acute rheumatism, and the way in which the patient shammed pain was pathetic.
From The White Lie by William Le Queux
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
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Refugee
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This Week in Words: April 1 - 6, 2018
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