phony
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phony
- /ˈfoʊni/ US
Rhymes with -əʊni
Where it comes from
Of unknown origin. Perhaps an alteration of fawny (“gilt brass ring used by swindlers”) (1781), from Irish fáinne (“ring”).
adjective phonier · phoniest · phoney
-
Fraudulent; fake; having a misleading appearance.
A good jeweler should be able to tell a real stone from a phony one.
Similar: bogus, counterfeit, fake
noun phonies · phoney
- A person who assumes an identity or quality other than their own. He claims to be a doctor, but he's nothing but a fast-talking phony.
-
A person who professes beliefs or opinions that they do not hold.
He's such a phony, he doesn't believe half of what he says.
Similar: faker, dissembler, pretender, fake, bamboozler, bouncer, bullshitter, cheat, cheater, cogger, cony-catcher, crammer
- Anything fraudulent or fake. One name was a phony, but the other was the true name. The clerk remembered the man who had filed the tags since he acquired two sets of plates with different names.
verb phonies · phonying · phonied · phoney
- To fake.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: phoney, fake, bogus, counterfeit, dissembler, hypocrite, bastard, imitative, faux, sham, forged, liar, spurious, fraudulent, scam, cheating
Translations
Every language
adj fraudulent; fake
| Español | falso, falaz, fraudulento, mendaz |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 偽 nise, 贋 nise, 偽物の nisemono no |
| 中文 | 假 jiǎ |
| Português | falso, de araque |
| Français | frauduleux, contrefait, falsifié, faux, à la noix, à la gomme |
| Deutsch | falsch, unecht, gefälscht, verlogen |
| Italiano | falso, fasullo |
| Русский | фальши́вый falʹšívyj, подде́льный poddélʹnyj, ненастоя́щий nenastojáščij |
| العربية | بَهْرَج bahraj, خَرَّاص ḵarrāṣ |
| עברית | מזויף |
noun a person who assumes an identity or quality other than their own
| Español | fingidor |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 詐欺師 sagishi |
| Português | impostor |
| Français | usurpateur, usurpatrice, faux-nez, faussaire |
| Deutsch | Hochstapler, Blender, Scharlatan |
| Italiano | impostore |
| Русский | прики́дчик prikídčik, прики́дчица prikídčica |
| العربية | مُتَصَنِّع mutaṣanniʕ |
noun a person who professes beliefs or opinions that they do not hold
| Español | falso, farsante |
|---|---|
| 中文 | 说慌话的人 |
| हिन्दी | कपटी kapṭī |
| Português | falso |
| Français | mystificateur, guignol, faux prophète |
| Deutsch | Heuchler, Lügner |
| العربية | مُتَصَنِّع mutaṣanniʕ, مُنَافِق munāfiq |
Talk about this word "phony." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/phony. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. phony. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/phony "phony." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/phony.Cite this
@misc{phony_2026,
title = {phony},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/phony},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
