phoney
Americanadjective
adjective
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not genuine; fake
-
(of a person) insincere or pretentious
noun
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an insincere or pretentious person
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something that is not genuine; a fake
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of phoney
C20: origin uncertain
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.
Broken computer monitors in bombed-out offices, scattered fake police uniforms and phoney hundred-dollar bills: these were the vestiges of a frantic escape of suspected cyberscammers fleeing a resort on the Cambodia-Thailand border.
From Barron's ● Mar. 12, 2026
Antoni, who has a PhD in economics, has previously criticised the BLS, questioning its methodology and calling its statistics "phoney baloney".
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2025
It was a Hampden shocker, sure, but the phoney war of friendlies isn't to be taken too seriously, right?
From BBC ● Mar. 27, 2024
Police in Strasbourg said the men would go to their victims' homes, carry out phoney control services and then overcharge for treatment products.
From BBC ● Dec. 7, 2023
That whole business with the psychiatrist that dragged on forever. 10TH JUROR: NOW don’t start with all that phoney psycho- whatever-you-call-it-stuff.
From "Twelve Angry Men" by Reginald Rose
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.
