# sham
## English
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ʃæm/
** Audio (Southern England):(file)
** Audio (General American):(file)
* Rhymes: -æm

### Etymology 1

Probably a dialectal form of shame.

#### Adjective

sham
* Intended to deceive; false.
    It was only a sham wedding: they didn't care much for one another, but wanted their parents to stop hassling them.
* Counterfeit; unreal.
** 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, The History of Pendennis. […], volume II, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 345:For this young lady was not able to carry out any emotion to the full; but had a sham enthusiasm, a sham hatred, a sham love, a sham taste, a sham grief, each of which flared and shone very vehemently for an instant, but subsided and gave place to the next sham emotion.
** 1881, Benjamin Jowett, transl., Thucydides, Oxford: Clarendon Press, VIII.64, p. 592:For the subject-cities, having secured a moderate form of government, and having no fear of being called to account for their proceedings, aimed at absolute freedom; they scorned the sham independence proffered to them by the Athenians.
** 2024 May 23, Sam Jones, “Spanish police recover Francis Bacon painting worth €5m”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:But the artist […] is equally famous for his drinking, gambling, his turbulent relationships, his famously chaotic studio, and for the mordant toast frequently attributed to him: “Champagne for my real friends, real pain for my sham friends.”

##### Synonyms

* mock
* See also Thesaurus:fake

##### Antonyms

* genuine
* sincere
* real

##### Derived terms

* shamboo
* sham marriage
* shammish
* Uncle Sham

##### Translations
#### Noun

sham (countable and uncountable, plural shams)
* A fake; an imitation that purports to be genuine.
    The time-share deal was a sham.
* Trickery, hoaxing.
    A con-man must be skilled in the arts of sham and deceit.
* A false front, or removable ornamental covering.
* A decorative cover for a pillow.

##### Derived terms

* Abraham sham
* shamateur

##### See also

* pillow sham

#### Verb

sham (third-person singular simple present shams, present participle shamming, simple past and past participle shammed)
* To deceive, cheat, lie.
** 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “[The Fables of Abstemius, &c.] Fab[le] CCLIII. Demades the Orator.”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC, page 220:they find themſelves Fool'd and Shamm'd (as we ſay) into a Conviction.
* To obtrude by fraud or imposition.
** 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “[The Fables of Æsop, &c.] Fab[le] CLXII. A Nightingale and a Bat.”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC, page 144:But we muſt have a care all this while, not to […] Sham Fallacyes upon the World for Current Reaſon
* To assume the manner and character of; to imitate; to ape; to feign.

##### Translations
### Etymology 2
#### Noun

sham (uncountable)
* (slang) Clipping of champagne.
** 1840, M. A. Titmarsh [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], The Paris Sketch Book, volume I, London: John Macrone, […], →OCLC, page 34:So I orders a bottle, as if for myself; and, ‘Ma’am, says I, ‘will you take a glass of Sham—just one?’

### Further reading

* “sham”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “sham”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
* “sham”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

### Anagrams

* SAHM, hams, HMAS, Mahs, MSHA, AShM, MASH, HSAM, MHAs, Mash, Samh, Sahm, Hams, HMAs, mash, AMHS

## Karakalpak
### Etymology

From Arabic شمع.

### Noun

sham
* candle

## Uzbek
### Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic شمع.

### Noun

sham (plural shamlar)
* candle