insincere
Someone who's insincere is a little bit fake or phony. Your classmate's insincere apology for interrupting you probably sounds like she doesn't really mean it.
When you're insincere, you're not being completely honest. A losing politician often gives an insincere-sounding concession speech, and a teacher who's having a terrible day might wear an insincere smile on her face. The adjective sincere, "coming from genuine, honest feelings," is at the root of insincere — the Latin prefix in, or "not," is combined with sincerus, "sound, pure, or whole."
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lacking sincerity“a charming but thoroughly insincere woman”“their praise was extravagant and insincere”synonyms:unreallacking in reality or substance or genuineness; not corresponding to acknowledged facts or criteriabootlicking, fawning, obsequious, sycophantic, toadyishattempting to win favor from influential people by flatterybuttery, fulsome, oily, oleaginous, smarmy, soapy, unctuousunpleasantly and excessively suave or ingratiating in manner or speechdissimulativeconcealing under a false appearance with the intent to deceivefalsedeliberately deceptivefeignednot genuinehypocriticalprofessing feelings or virtues one does not haveplausiblegiven to or characterized by presenting specious argumentsfalsenot in accordance with the fact or reality or actuality
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Vocabulary lists containing insincere
On the New SAT, all of the Reading Test questions are multiple choice and are based on reading passages that may be taken from literature, science, the social sciences, or a US founding document (or a text inspired by such a document). Many of the reading comprehension questions meant to assess a student’s understanding of those passages will require students to choose words that best describe the writer’s tone or point of view, words like the 200 words you see on this list. Learn them here so when you see them in an SAT answer choice, you’ll know what they mean! Here are all of our word lists to help you prepare for the new SAT (debuting March of 2016): The Language of the Test, Multiple-Meaning Words, and Words to Capture Tone.
On the SAT, all of the Reading Test questions are multiple choice and are based on reading passages that may be taken from literature, science, the social sciences, or a U.S. founding document (or a text inspired by such a document). Many of the reading comprehension questions meant to assess a student’s understanding of those passages will require students to choose words that best describe the writer’s tone or point of view, words like the 25 words you see on this list. Learn them here so when you see them in an SAT answer choice, you’ll know what they mean! Following our Roadmap to the SAT? Head back to see what else you should be learning this week.
On the ACT Reading Test, you will almost certainly encounter questions that ask about an author's tone — that is, the author's attitude toward their subject matter. Master our comprehensive collection of common words used to describe an author's tone, and you'll be well prepared to tackle these questions.