counterfeit
Americanadjective
noun
-
an imitation intended to be passed off fraudulently or deceptively as genuine; forgery.
- Synonyms:
- sham, falsification
-
Archaic. a copy.
-
Archaic. a close likeness; portrait.
-
Obsolete. impostor; pretender.
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
-
to make counterfeits, as of money.
-
to feign; dissemble.
adjective
-
made in imitation of something genuine with the intent to deceive or defraud; forged
-
simulated; sham
counterfeit affection
noun
-
an imitation designed to deceive or defraud
-
archaic an impostor; cheat
verb
-
(tr) to make a fraudulent imitation of
-
(intr) to make counterfeits
-
to feign; simulate
-
(tr) to imitate; copy
Synonym Usage
See false.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
counterfeiternoun
-
counterfeitnessnoun
-
noncounterfeitadjective
-
uncounterfeitedadjective
-
counterfeitlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
counterfeitsimple
-
counterfeitssimple
-
have counterfeitedperfect
-
has counterfeitedperfect
-
am counterfeitingprogressive
-
are counterfeitingprogressive
-
is counterfeitingprogressive
-
have been counterfeitingperfect progressive
-
has been counterfeitingperfect progressive
Past
-
counterfeitedsimple
-
had counterfeitedperfect
-
was counterfeitingprogressive
-
were counterfeitingprogressive
-
had been counterfeitingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of counterfeit
First recorded in 1250–1300; (adjective) Middle English countrefet “false, forged,” from Anglo-French cuntrefet, Old French contrefait, contrefet, past participle of contrefaire, contrefere “to copy, imitate,” equivalent to conter- counter- + fere “to make, do,” ultimately from Latin facere ( see fact); (verb) Middle English countrefeten, verbal derivative of countrefet
Explanation
A counterfeit is a fake or a forgery. If you painted an uncanny copy of the "Mona Lisa" and tried to pass it off as the original, you'd have a counterfeit on your hands. An exact imitation of anything — a work of art, a ten dollar bill — is a counterfeit, and the act of creating the fake copy is the verb to counterfeit. You can also describe the forgery using the adjective form of counterfeit: a counterfeit Rolex watch. In Old French, the word contre, "counter or against", together with the word faire, "to make," joined together to mean "to make in imitation," which led to our counterfeit.
Vocabulary lists containing counterfeit
Against All Odds: Contra and Counter
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Fake It 'Til You Make It: Synonyms for "False"
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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.
See Examples For:
More than 220,000 pieces of football merchandise were recovered by the Police Intellectual Property Office as part of Operation Bloxwich, a UK police enforcement effort targeting counterfeit goods.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
The European Union said AliExpress also did not do enough to stop the sale of counterfeit products and that when the platform detected illegal goods were on sale, many remained online for several weeks.
From Barron's ● Jul. 20, 2026
Such replacements, sometimes labeled with counterfeit logos of American carmakers, are widely available online.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
No reported deaths were linked to counterfeit parts at the time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
They had been tracking down the source of the American counterfeit money that showed up in Morocco, and by coincidence arrived at the Chelsea just seconds after the FBI.
From "Hole in My Life" by Jack Gantos
The supply chain for most of Vietnam's counterfeits can be traced back across its northern border into China, where they are manufactured.
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026
Chap Achen, senior director analyst at research firm Gartner, said fraudsters are taking advantage of those policies to scam the system, including by sending back empty boxes, incorrect merchandise or counterfeits.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026
They also are more flexible about storing goods like counterfeits.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 18, 2025
Tepper will buy Chinese look-alikes too as long as they’re not counterfeits.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2025
Many of these shops are "mints," and some of them produce counterfeits.
From Piano Playing: With Piano Questions Answered by Hofmann, Josef
Nine Italian nationals have been arrested and charged with trading in counterfeited goods.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2024
But Leas sees these documents as mostly marketing, and these reports can be counterfeited.
From Slate ● Jul. 18, 2024
“Checks are more vulnerable than other payment methods to being compromised, counterfeited or stolen.”
From Washington Times ● Jun. 13, 2023
They were thus relatively scarce and could not be counterfeited.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022
Each flower was made of glass or crystal, spun or carved, he could not tell: they counterfeited life perfectly.
From "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman
“It looks like the company’s seemingly blatant attempts at counterfeiting patented weight-loss drugs via compounding finally went too far,” said On the Street Substack author Herb Greenberg.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 9, 2026
The tech also assigns a counterfeiting risk score based on the company’s years of collecting information on real and fake items.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 21, 2026
Both men were charged with "counterfeiting medicines or medical products", and the 26-year-old also faces money-laundering charges.
From Barron's ● Dec. 3, 2025
Petersen plays Richard Chance, a Secret Service agent assigned to investigate a counterfeiting ring in Los Angeles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 2025
But that rarely happened; the fine for counterfeiting would be enormous: two and a half times the full market value of the genuine animal.
From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick
Definitions 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.
