sham

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Something false or empty that is purported to be genuine; a spurious imitation.
2. n. The quality of deceitfulness; empty pretense.
3. n. One who assumes a false character; an impostor: "He a man! Hell! He was a hollow sham!” ( Joseph Conrad).
4. n. A decorative cover made to simulate an article of household linen and used over or in place of it: a pillow sham.
5. adj. Not genuine; fake: sham diamonds; sham modesty.
6. v. To put on the false appearance of; feign: "shamming insanity to get his tormentors to leave him alone” ( John Wain).
7. v. To assume a false appearance or character; dissemble.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Shame; disgrace; fault.
2. n. A trick put upon one; a trick or device that deludes or disappoints expectation; fraud; imposture; make-believe; humbug: as, an age of shams.
3. n. Some device meant to give a thing a different outward appearance, as of neatness and finish, or to imitate something which it is not. Specifically A false shirt-front; a dicky.
4. n. A false pillow-cover; a pillow-sham.
5. n. A strip of fine linen, often embroidered, put under the upper edge of the bed-coverings and turned over, as if forming the upper end of the sheet.
6. n. plural Gaiters.
7. False; counterfeit; pretended: as, a sham fight.
8. Synonyms Mock, spurious, make-believe.
9. To deceive; trick; cheat; delude with false pretenses.
10. To obtrude by fraud or imposition.
11. To make a pretense of in order to deceive; feign; imitate: as, to sham illness.
12. To pretend; make false pretenses; pretend to be, do, etc., what one is not, does not, does not mean, etc.

Wiktionary

1. adj. Intended to deceive; false.
2. n. A fake; an imitation that purports to be genuine.
3. n. Trickery, hoaxing.
4. n. A decorative cover for a pillow.
5. v. To deceive, cheat, lie.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. That which deceives expectation; any trick, fraud, or device that deludes and disappoints; a make-believe; delusion; imposture; humbug.
2. n. A false front, or removable ornamental covering.
3. adj. False; counterfeit; pretended; feigned; unreal.
4. v. To trick; to cheat; to deceive or delude with false pretenses.
5. v. rare To obtrude by fraud or imposition.
6. v. To assume the manner and character of; to imitate; to ape; to feign.
7. v. To make false pretenses; to deceive; to feign; to impose.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. make believe with the intent to deceive
2. adj. adopted in order to deceive
3. v. make a pretence of
4. n. a person who makes deceitful pretenses
5. n. something that is a counterfeit; not what it seems to be