impersonate

Etymology

From im- + person + -ate. Compare incorporate.

verb

1. (transitive) To pretend to be (a different person); to assume the identity of.
   The conman managed to impersonate several executives.
   Evil can and will always impersonate goodness.
2. (transitive, computing) To operate with the permissions of a different user account.
3. (obsolete, transitive) To manifest in corporeal form; to personify.
   The shepherds were impersonated, then the Magi, finally Herod himself. In course of time all the elements of a fully developed Nativity play had thus been introduced. 1918, Paul Studer, Le mystère d'Adam, an Anglo-Norman drama of the twelfth century