Definition of "imposture"

imposture

/ɪmˈpɒstjʊə(ɹ)/

noun
plural impostures
1. The act or conduct of an impostor; deception practiced under a false or assumed character; fraud or imposition
  Quotations
  Among an unenlightened people every impoſture is likely to take place, for ignorance is the parent of credulity.
  1774, [Oliver] Goldsmith, “Of the Earliest State of Greece”, in The Grecian History, from the Earliest State to the Death of Alexander the Great, volume I, London: […] J[ohn] and F[rancis] Rivington, […], page 1
  There is something very horrible in the laugh of a dying man: Hovering on the verge of both worlds, he seems to give the lie to both, and proclaim the enjoyments of one, and the hopes of another, alike an imposture.
  1820, [Charles Robert Maturin], Melmoth the Wanderer: A Tale. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Company, and Hurst, Robinson, and Co., […], page 292