phony

/ˈfoʊni/

/ˈfʌʊni/

Other forms: phonies; phoniest; phonier; phonily

Whether you're talking about your attitude, a gigantic diamond, or that obnoxious guy's claims that he knows everything about quantum physics, you can use phony to say that something’s not real.

Use the adjective phony to describe anything that’s fake. If you’re making phony money in the basement, you’ll be in trouble if you get caught using it. Phony has a noun version with a similar meaning. If you say someone or something is a phony, then you’re saying it isn’t what it pretends to be. Someone who’s a phony isn’t sincere, like your classmate who pretended to be your best friend just to try to steal your boyfriend.

Definitions of phony

1. adjective

   fraudulent; having a misleading appearance
   synonyms: bastard, bogus, fake, phoney

   counterfeit, imitative

   not genuine; imitating something superior
2. noun

   a person who professes beliefs and opinions that he or she does not hold in order to conceal his or her real feelings or motives
   synonyms: dissembler, dissimulator, hypocrite, phoney, pretender

   types:

   charmer, smoothie, smoothy, sweet talker

   someone with an assured and ingratiating manner

   Tartufe, Tartuffe

   a hypocrite who pretends to religious piety (after the protagonist in a play by Moliere)

   whited sepulcher, whited sepulchre

   a person who is inwardly evil but outwardly professes to be virtuous

   type of:

   beguiler, cheat, cheater, deceiver, slicker, trickster

   someone who leads you to believe something that is not true