phony

or pho·ney

[foh-nee]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR phony ON THESAURUS.COM

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

Related formspho·ni·ly, adverbpho·ni·ness, noun

Synonyms for phony

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR phony ON THESAURUS.COM

4. fraud, imitation, hoax.

-phony

a combining form used in the formation of abstract nouns corresponding to nouns ending in -phone: telephony.

Origin of -phony

< Greek -phōnia; see -phone, -y³

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

Related Words for phony

spurious, counterfeit, sham, bogus, forged, trick, put-on, pseudo, imitation, affected, artificial, assumed

Examples from the Web for phony

Contemporary Examples of phony

Surely they believe as well that the very concept of an ethnic nation “chosen” by God is phony and unjust.
No Drama Obama's Israel Ambivalence
James Poulos
July 26, 2014
This single program alone has generated tens of thousands of phony Twitterers.
Your Fake Followers Are Catfishing You: Bacon Mavens, Newt’s Fake Fans, and Other Social Media Scams
Charles Seife
July 3, 2014
In 2012, Facebook announced that 83 million profiles—pushing 10 percent of the total number on the site—were phony.
Your Fake Followers Are Catfishing You: Bacon Mavens, Newt’s Fake Fans, and Other Social Media Scams
Charles Seife
July 3, 2014
Of course, the incentive for the Gingrich team would be not to delete the phony accounts.
Your Fake Followers Are Catfishing You: Bacon Mavens, Newt’s Fake Fans, and Other Social Media Scams
Charles Seife
July 3, 2014
Just like refusing vaccines will do nothing to reverse these changes, neither will phony detoxifying remedies.
FDA Moves to Crack Down on Quack Autism ‘Cures’
Russell Saunders
April 29, 2014

Historical Examples of phony

I looks at him, and then, thinking of the phony money, I looks at Durks.
Sonnie-Boy's People
James B. Connolly
Their phony history was set up to deceive their own people as well as others.
Cubs of the Wolf
Raymond F. Jones
And you knew, right away, that Swami was a phony from Flatbush.
Sense from Thought Divide
Mark Irvin Clifton
For there's nothin' phony about my new Uncle Kyrle, take it from me!
Torchy, Private Sec.
Sewell Ford
Say, Tuttle, you know you can't work any 'phony deal on the Corrugated.
Torchy
Sewell Ford

British Dictionary definitions for phony

phony

adjective, noun -nier or -niest or plural -nies

a variant spelling (esp US) of phoney

Derived Formsphoniness, noun

-phony

n combining form

indicating a specified type of soundcacophony; euphony

Derived Forms-phonic, adj combining form

Word Origin for -phony

from Greek -phōnia, from phōnē sound

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 phony

adj.

also phoney, "not genuine," 1899, perhaps an alteration of fawney "gilt brass ring used by swindlers."

His most successful swindle was selling "painted" or "phony" diamonds. He had a plan of taking cheap stones, and by "doctoring" them make them have a brilliant and high class appearance. His confederates would then take the diamonds to other pawnbrokers and dispose of them. ["The Jewelers Review," New York, April 5, 1899]

The noun meaning "phony person or thing" is attested from 1902.

phony in Medicine

-phony

suff.

Sound:microphony.