bogus
Americanadjective
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of bogus
1825–30, originally an apparatus for coining false money; perhaps akin to bogy 1
Explanation
Bogus means fake. A bogus dollar bill is counterfeit, a bogus Picasso was not painted by him, and a bogus attempt at reconciliation would come from someone who never intended to end a fight. The word bogus originated in the U.S. It was coined as a name for a machine that printed counterfeit money and later became a trademark term among California surfers. In surfer speak, "totally bogus, dude" would describe any unfortunate situation.
Vocabulary lists containing bogus
Fake It 'Til You Make It: Synonyms for "False"
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "B"
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Smoke and Mirrors: The Lingo of Illusion and Deception
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
When shoppers go online to check a balance, their search takes them to a bogus page, rather than the web address provided with the plastic.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026
Any director pointing their camera at Holmes — before or after she was convicted of fraud for her bogus Theranos blood-testing device — won’t capture the whole truth.
From Salon ● Oct. 28, 2026
A spokesperson for Peters told CBS News, the BBC's US partner, that the charges are "bogus" and that Peters has yet to be served with an arrest warrant.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026
She rode the early 2000s wave of venture-capitalism consumer-tech hype, defrauding investors and the public with a bogus new way to test blood.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
He knew nothing about Blake's real identity, but neither was he a genuine informer; the KGB worked carefully with him to feed Blake documents and other bogus intelligence, which Blake then gave to MI6.
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
