ringer

¹ American  

[ring-er] / ˈrɪŋ ər /

noun

1. a person or thing that encircles, rings, etc.

2. a quoit or horseshoe so thrown as to encircle the peg.

3. the throw itself.

4. Also called ring taw.  Marbles. Also ringers a game in which players place marbles in a cross marked in the center of a circle, the object being to knock as many marbles as possible outside the circle by using another marble shooter.

5. Australian. a highly skilled sheep shearer.

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ringer ² American  

[ring-er] / ˈrɪŋ ər /

noun

1. a person or thing that rings or makes a ringing noise.

   a ringer of bells;

   a bell that is a loud ringer.

2. dead ringer.

   Synonyms:

   spitting image, look-alike, duplicate, double, doppelgänger

3. Slang.

   1. a racehorse, athlete, or the like entered in a competition under false representation as to identity or ability.

   2. a student paid by another to take an exam.

   3. any person or thing that is fraudulent; fake or impostor.

   4. a substitute or addition, as a professional musician hired to strengthen a school orchestra.

      We hired three ringers for the commencement concert.

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ringer British  

/ ˈrɪŋə /

noun

1. a person or thing that rings a bell

2. Also called: dead ringer.  slang a person or thing that is almost identical to another

3. slang a stolen vehicle the identity of which has been changed by the use of the licence plate, serial number, etc, of another, usually disused, vehicle

4. a contestant, esp a horse, entered in a competition under false representations of identity, record, or ability

5. the fastest shearer in a shed

6. informal the fastest or best at anything

7. a quoit thrown so as to encircle a peg

8. such a throw

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Etymology

Origin of ringer¹

First recorded in 1815–25; ring ¹ + -er ¹

Origin of ringer²

First recorded in 1375–1425; ring ² + -er ¹ ( def. )

Explanation

If you enter an amateur baking contest pretending to be self-taught when you're actually a French-trained pastry chef, you are a ringer. A ringer is a contestant who lies about his experience. The idea of a ringer first developed in horse racing, where fast horses were sometime substituted, secretly, for slower ones — this was originally known as a "ring-in." It's thought to have come from the British term of the same name, which means "substitute or exchange." Ringers are occasionally used in many different sports and competitions, in an attempt to gain a sneaky kind of advantage.

Example Sentences

My phone lives in the bathroom in a charger with the ringer on.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 16, 2026

"It was really fun for us to put them through the ringer and to basically have them look at each other and say: 'Are these differences too much for our partnership to succeed?'"

From Barron's • Nov. 25, 2025

Could he be a ringer in Duke intramural basketball?

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 9, 2025

Tom Hollander is a dead ringer for Capote, while Naomi Watts’ Babe Paley is stunning and tragic.

From Salon • Dec. 20, 2024

Mrs. Adler flips her ringer on, then slips her phone in the pocket of her shirt or pajama top or whatever it is.

From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko