mimic vs sham

mimic

noun
  • An imitation. 

  • A comic who does impressions. 

  • An entity that mimics another entity, such as a disease that resembles another disease in its signs and symptoms; see the great imitator. 

  • A mime. 

verb
  • To imitate, especially in order to ridicule. 

  • To take on the appearance of another, for protection or camouflage. 

adj
  • Imitative; characterized by resemblance to other forms; applied to crystals which by twinning resemble simple forms of a higher grade of symmetry. 

  • Pertaining to mimicry; imitative. 

  • Mock, pretended. 

sham

noun
  • A fake; an imitation that purports to be genuine. 

  • A decorative cover for a pillow. 

  • A false front, or removable ornamental covering. 

  • Trickery, hoaxing. 

  • Champagne. 

adj
  • mock 

  • Intended to deceive; false. 

  • counterfeit; unreal 

  • See also Thesaurus:fake 

verb
  • To obtrude by fraud or imposition. 

  • To deceive, cheat, lie. 

  • To assume the manner and character of; to imitate; to ape; to feign. 

How often have the words mimic and sham occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )