phony
or pho·ney
[ foh-nee ]
/ ˈfoʊ ni /
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
OTHER WORDS FROM phony
pho·ni·ly, adverb pho·ni·ness, nounWords nearby phony
phonoscope,
phonotactic,
phonotactics,
phonotype,
phonotypy,
phony,
phony disease,
phony war,
phony-baloney,
phooey,
phorate
British Dictionary definitions for phonied
phony
/ (ˈfəʊnɪ) /
adjective, noun -nier or -niest or plural -nies
a variant spelling (esp US) of phoney