bogus
[boh-guhs]
- not genuine; counterfeit; spurious; sham.
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- Printing, Journalism. matter set, by union requirement, by a compositor and later discarded, duplicating the text of an advertisement for which a plate has been supplied or type set by another publisher.
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Origin of bogus
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comDictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
spurious, phony, fraudulent, fictitious, forged, fake, sham, false, artificial, dummy, ersatz, imitation, pretended, pseudo, simulatedExamples from the Web for bogus
Contemporary Examples
The man, Joshua Kemp, told what police describe as “a bogus story that quickly fell apart.”
With a nose for bogus facts, Johnson sets out to break the Internet by breaking news.
Rich Lowry, editor of the conservative National Review, called that statistic “bogus.”
He opens up about the bogus Midnight Express, Oliver Stone on blow, and his riveting one-man show.
The Unbelievable (True) Story of the World’s Most Infamous Hash SmugglerMarlow Stern
November 14, 2014
What do they do if they find out there are these bogus parts that can come unscrewed?
Historical Examples
Save for subsiding bubbles, and the bogus water, there was nothing there.
The Paliser caseEdgar Saltus
In all such cases the heraldry should be true, and not of the "bogus" kind.
Wood-CarvingGeorge Jack
She must explain to me how that bogus money came into her possession.
Frank Merriwell's BraveryBurt L. Standish
By some fearful mischance I dropped a real despatch and not the bogus one.
The Lost DespatchNatalie Sumner Lincoln
Wall, I must say I like yer looks a heap better nor I did the bogus one!
Dave Porter in the Gold FieldsEdward Stratemeyer
bogus
- spurious or counterfeit; not genuinea bogus note
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Word Origin
C19: from bogus apparatus for making counterfeit money; perhaps related to bogey 1
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for bogus
1838, "counterfeit money, spurious coin," American English, apparently from a slang word applied (according to some sources first in Ohio in 1827) to a counterfeiter's apparatus.
One bogus or machine impressing dies on the coin, with a number of dies, engraving tools, bank bill paper, spurious coin, &c. &c. making in all a large wagon load, was taken into possession by the attorney general of Lower Canada. [Niles' Register, Sept. 7, 1833, quoting from Concord, New Hampshire, "Statesman," Aug. 24]
Some trace this to tantrabobus, also tantrabogus, a late 18c. colloquial Vermont word for any odd-looking object, in later 19c. use "the devil," which might be connected to tantarabobs, recorded as a Devonshire name for the devil. Others trace it to the same source as bogey (n.1).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper