"sham" meaning in English

See sham in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /ʃæm/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-sham.wav [UK] Forms: sham [positive], more sham [comparative], most sham [superlative]
Head templates: {{adj|more=true}} [POS TABLE]
  1. If an event is a sham, it's purpose is to trick people.
    Sense id: simple-sham-en-adj--JmUnz8Q

Noun

IPA: /ʃæm/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-sham.wav [UK] Forms: sham [singular], shams [plural]
Head templates: {{noun}} [POS TABLE]
  1. A sham is something that purports to be real.
    Sense id: simple-sham-en-noun-N4Bs242I

Verb

IPA: /ʃæm/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-sham.wav [UK] Forms: sham [canonical], shams [third-person, singular], shammed [past], shammed [past, participle], shamming [present, participle]
Head templates: {{verb|sham|m}} [POS TABLE]
  1. If a person shams, they deceive others by making a false thing appear true.
    Sense id: simple-sham-en-verb-QVluO4Ps
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sham",
      "tags": [
        "positive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "more sham",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most sham",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "more": "true"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "If an event is a sham, it's purpose is to trick people."
      ],
      "id": "simple-sham-en-adj--JmUnz8Q"
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ʃæm/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-sham.wav",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "sham"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sham",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "shams",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A sham is something that purports to be real."
      ],
      "id": "simple-sham-en-noun-N4Bs242I"
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ʃæm/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-sham.wav",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "sham"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sham",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "shams",
      "tags": [
        "third-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "shammed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "shammed",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "shamming",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sham",
        "2": "m"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "If a person shams, they deceive others by making a false thing appear true."
      ],
      "id": "simple-sham-en-verb-QVluO4Ps"
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ʃæm/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-sham.wav",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "sham"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sham",
      "tags": [
        "positive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "more sham",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most sham",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "more": "true"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "If an event is a sham, it's purpose is to trick people."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ʃæm/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-sham.wav",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "sham"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sham",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "shams",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A sham is something that purports to be real."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ʃæm/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-sham.wav",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "sham"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sham",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "shams",
      "tags": [
        "third-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "shammed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "shammed",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "shamming",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sham",
        "2": "m"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "If a person shams, they deceive others by making a false thing appear true."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ʃæm/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-sham.wav",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "sham"
}

Download raw JSONL data for sham meaning in English (1.5kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-03-29 from the simplewiktionary dump dated 2025-03-21 using wiktextract (fef8596 and 633533e). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.