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
Gen. Rob Bonta held dueling news conferences Thursday, with each touting their efforts to crack down on medical providers accused of needless surgical procedures, sham addiction treatment program, bogus hospice care and other alleged schemes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
Though many bogus emails come from Gmail accounts, one giveaway was the mismatch between the email’s domain address and the recruiting firm’s internet domain address.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 5, 2026
We were thirteen when we made the list, and we were pretty positive the retreating glacier rhetoric was bogus.
From "Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet" by Joanne Proulx
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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.
