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Definition of sham noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

sham

noun
 
/ʃæm/
 
/ʃæm/
(disapproving)
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  1. [singular] a situation, feeling, system, etc. that is not as good or true as it seems to be
    • She felt trapped in a sham of a marriage.
  2. [countable, usually singular] a person who pretends to be something that they are not
    • The article exposes him for the sham that he really is.
  3. [uncountable] behaviour, feelings, words, etc. that are intended to make somebody/something seem to be better than they really are
    • Their promises turned out to be full of sham and hypocrisy.
    • His intellectual pretensions are all sham.
    4. Word Originlate 17th cent.: perhaps a northern English dialect variant of the noun shame.
See sham in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary
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trait
noun
 
 
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