phony
or pho·ney
[foh-nee]
adjective, pho·ni·er, pho·ni·est.
not real or genuine; fake; counterfeit: a phony diamond.
false or deceiving; not truthful; concocted: a phony explanation.
insincere or deceitful; affected or pretentious: a phony sales representative.
noun, plural pho·nies.
something that is phony; a counterfeit or fake.
an insincere, pretentious, or deceitful person: He thought my friends were a bunch of phonies.
verb (used with object), pho·nied, pho·ny·ing.
to falsify; counterfeit; fabricate (often followed by up): to phony up a document.
Origin of phony
1895–1900; perhaps alteration and respelling of fawney (slang) finger ring (< Irish fsptáinne), if taken to mean “false” in the phrase fawney rig a confidence game in which a brass ring is sold as a gold one
Synonyms for phony
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Related Words for phoniness
ambidexterity, ambidextrous, artificiality, backhanded, deceitful, deceptive, devious, disingenuous, double, double-dealing, duplicitous, evasive, faithless, fake, hollow, hypocritical, lying, mendacious, perfidious, phonyExamples from the Web for phoniness
Contemporary Examples of phoniness
He was going nuts with frustration in the face of what he considered to be phoniness and untruth.
phony
adjective, noun -nier or -niest or plural -nies
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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phony
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper