phony
202
5.3
- adjective
- /ˈfoʊni/
- Informal
- She wore a phony designer handbag, trying to appear wealthier than she really was.
- phony rhetoric
- a phony war
Loading YouTube…
Watch on YouTubeIt's this kind of rap of of a, of a phony TV preacher.
- It's this kind of rap of of a, of a phony TV preacher.
- So he went to the acupuncture school to prove how phony acupuncture was.
- I mean the absolute gall, the phony Russian collusion hoax.
- You don't get much more phony than an Astroturf town green.
- I wouldn't know, Like, it looked kind of phony to me.
- But I was watching this stuff and saying it's scripted, it's staged, it's phony, it's fake, and it's not real.
- It's a corrupting influence where our professors, their head full of phony baloney ideas.
- He tried to ruin Trump's first term with a phony lie about him being a Russian agent.
- And I'm sorry if I'm feeling a little passionate right now, but I get so sick of the fake and phony stuff I see online.
- So way too much time was spent doing goofy things like making phony phone calls because we didn't have an outlet for our creativity.
- And then, you know, he would do, you know, phony phone calls all the time because I, I really felt like it was.
- Because because people are smart people realize when you're bessing them, they just know that they know when it's phony and they know when it's real too.
Examples
-
In the spring of 1940, France's "phony war" with Germany, begun the preceding year, turned all too real.
Academic text (2016) -
I tell you, there's something phony about me, about Raymond Shaw, about the whole Medal of Honor business.
-
If you mean did I coach him into a phony story, no.
-
"Did that sound as phony to you as it did to me?" he demanded.
Fiction book (1992) -
Just for instance, do you know how phony you sound when you speak your elegant Italian?
Fiction book (1993) -
He gave me a phony name, but I got his picture.
-
These are phony prescription glasses with fake plastic lenses.
-
Jimmy went to check that warehouse near Lancaster because he found out it was rented under a phony name.
-
"The quickest way to spot a phony implementation program is that you're still training after two years."
Academic text (1993) -
It's a corrupting influence where our professors, their head full of phony baloney ideas.
Synonyms
939
1.8
Not real and made to look like something real
155
2.8
Not real and made to trick people
141
5.6
Fake and made to trick people
87
6.5
Trying to trick people to get their money
65
7.5
Not real but made to look like something real to copy it
59
7.7
Not real but looks real and comes before other words
59
5.3
Appearing true but making someone believe something that is not true
31
5.0
Acting in a dishonest way to make people believe something untrue
15
7.9
Not real or true, often made to seem true
12
7.0
Seeming to be real but not really there
8
6.8
Pretended to be true to make others believe it
6
6.6
Not real and not what it looks like
4
8.2
Appearing real but not actually true
3
4.7
Made to seem real to trick people
1
9.1
Giving a false idea that makes people believe something untrue
Antonyms
How Genuine
236
3.8
140
3.2
18
4.2
- Informal
202
5.3
939
1.8
64
6.7
Surface Forms
Etymology
A helpful way to remember the adjective phony is to think of the fake ring called the fawney, from Irish fáinne 'ring', which was used to trick people. That's why phony means not real or made to fool others.