bogus

[ boh-guhs ]

/ ˈboʊ gəs /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR bogus ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

not genuine; counterfeit; spurious; sham.

noun

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.

Nearby words

bogor, bogorodsk, bogotá, bogtrotter, bogue, bogus, bogwood, bogy, bogyman, boh, bohai

Origin of bogus

1825–30, Americanism; originally an apparatus for coining false money; perhaps akin to bogy¹

SYNONYMS FOR bogus

1 fraudulent, pseudo, fake, phony.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR bogus ON THESAURUS.COM

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for bogus

The man, Joshua Kemp, told what police describe as “a bogus story that quickly fell apart.”
Shot Down During the NYPD Slowdown|Michael Daly|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
With a nose for bogus facts, Johnson sets out to break the Internet by breaking news.
On Torture, Chuck Johnson & Sondheim|James Poulos|December 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Rich Lowry, editor of the conservative National Review, called that statistic “bogus.”
Fact-Checking the Sunday Shows: Dec. 7|PunditFact.com|December 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
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 Smuggler|Marlow Stern|November 14, 2014|DAILY BEAST

What do they do if they find out there are these bogus parts that can come unscrewed?
Patients Screwed in Spine Surgery ‘Scam’|The Center for Investigative Reporting|November 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Was it one of the young ladies here who recently purchased some bogus theatre tickets?
The Motor Girls at Camp Surprise|Margaret Penrose
So uniformly are good manners enforced among slaves, I can easily detect a "bogus" fugitive by his manners.
My Bondage and My Freedom|Frederick Douglass
The New York merchants were evidently becoming expert in the preparation of bogus certificates.
Memoirs of Service Afloat, During the War Between the States|Raphael Semmes
Material for Paper Work--Heavy oak tag, manila, and bogus papers for cutting and construction come in sheets of different sizes.
A Catalogue of Play Equipment|Jean Lee Hunt
Our people have been and are being robbed out of thousands of dollars by these bogus Masons in this and other States.
The Early Introduction of Bogus Freemasonry in the United States of America and Texas Among Colored Masons|Charles L. Mitchell

British Dictionary definitions for bogus

bogus

/ (ˈbəʊɡəs) /

adjective

spurious or counterfeit; not genuinea bogus note

Derived Formsbogusly, adverbbogusness, noun

Word Origin for bogus

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 Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for bogus

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).

bogus

adjective

noun

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Nearby words

Origin of bogus

Examples from the Web for bogus

British Dictionary definitions for bogus

bogus

adjective

Word Origin for bogus

Word Origin and History for bogus

bogus