Impostor

IMPOS'TOR, noun [Low Latin impostor from impono. See [[Impose]].]

One who imposes on others; a person who assumes a character for the purpose of deception; a deceiver under a false character. It seems to be yet unsettled, whether Perkin Warbeck was an impostor A religious impostor may be one who assumes the character of a preacher, without authority; or one who falsely pretends to an extraordinary commission from heaven, and terrifies people with denunciations of judgments.