phoney

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Related to phoney: Phoney War

pho·ney

(fō′nē)

adj. & n.

Variant of phony.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

phoney

(ˈfəʊnɪ) or

phony

adj, -nier or -niest

1. not genuine; fake

2. (of a person) insincere or pretentious

n, pl -neys or -nies

3. an insincere or pretentious person

4. something that is not genuine; a fake

[C20: origin uncertain]

ˈphoneyness, ˈphoniness n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	phoney - 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 dissembler, dissimulator, hypocrite, phony, pretender beguiler, cheater, deceiver, trickster, slicker, cheat - someone who leads you to believe something that is not true 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
Adj.	1.	phoney - fraudulent; having a misleading appearance bastard, bogus, fake, phony counterfeit, imitative - not genuine; imitating something superior; "counterfeit emotion"; "counterfeit money"; "counterfeit works of art"; "a counterfeit prince"

phoney

(Informal)

adjective

1. fake, affected, assumed, trick, put-on, false, forged, imitation, sham, pseudo (informal), counterfeit, feigned, spurious He used a phoney accent.
fake real, original, genuine, authentic, sincere, unaffected, bona fide, dinkum (Austral & N.Z. informal), unfeigned, unassumed

2. bogus, false, fake, pseudo (informal), ersatz phoney `experts'

noun

1. faker, fraud, fake, pretender, humbug, impostor, pseud (informal) He was a liar, a cheat, and a phoney.

2. fake, sham, forgery, counterfeit This passport is a phoney.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

phony

also phoney
adjective

1. Fraudulently or deceptively imitative:

bogus, counterfeit, fake, false, fraudulent, sham, spurious, suppositious, supposititious.

2. Not genuine or sincere:

affected, artificial, feigned, insincere, pretended.

3. Of or practicing hypocrisy:

hypocritical, Pecksniffian, pharisaic, pharisaical, sanctimonious, two-faced.

noun

1. A fraudulent imitation:

counterfeit, fake, forgery, sham.

2. One who fakes:

charlatan, fake, faker, fraud, humbug, impostor, mountebank, pretender, quack.

3. A person who practices hypocrisy:

hypocrite, pharisee, tartuffe.

Translations

Blender

lažen

phoney

phony (US also) [ˈfəʊnɪ]

A. ADJ [moustache] → falso, postizo; [name, document, smile] → falso; [accent] → fingido
there's sth phoney about it → esto huele a camelo
the phoney war (1939) → la guerra ilusoria

B. N (phoneys (pl)) (= person) → farsante mf; (= thing) → falsificación f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

phoney

[ˈfəʊni]

adj [excuse, accent] → bidon f inv
phoney excuses → des excuses bidons, des excuses bidon

(= insincere person) → charlatan mphoney war phony war n (British) → drôle de guerre f
the phoney war (in 1939) → la drôle de guerre

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

phoney

(inf)

adj

(= fake, pretentious) → unecht; excuse, deal, peace → faul (inf); name, accent → falsch; passport, money → gefälscht; story, report → erfunden; a phoney doctor → ein Scharlatan m; a phoney policeman → ein zwielichtiger Polizist; a phoney company → eine Schwindelfirma; a phoney war → kein echter Krieg; he’s so phoney → der ist doch nicht echt (inf); there’s something phoney about it → da ist was faul dran (inf)

(= insincere) person → falsch; emotion → unecht, vorgetäuscht

n (= thing) → Fälschung f; (= banknote also) → Blüte f (inf); (= bogus policeman etc) → Schwindler(in) m(f); (= doctor) → Scharlatan m; (= pretentious person) → Angeber(in) m(f)

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

phoney

[ˈfəʊnɪ] (fam)

1. adj (-ier (comp) (-iest (superl))) (gen) → falso/a, fasullo/a; (accent) → fasullo/a

2. n (person) → venditore/trice di fumo, ciarlatano/a

Mentioned in ?

References in classic literature ?

Look at your Sugar Trust--with all its millions stealing water like a common thief from New York City, and short-weighing the government on its phoney scales.

View in context

-Strategic default a 'phoney concept,' Honohan

The only disgraceful thing is Cllr Jobling has been attacking Liberal party candidates in his ward as phonies et al,when all along the only thing phoney was his own political flag of convenience - The Liberal Democrats,who are nothing more than an opportunistic hotchpotch created by various defectors in 1988.

What comes naturally; You Say Email:letters@liverpoolecho.co.uk

And when the outlet, in Newcastle's East End, was raided, officers found an Aladdin's Cave of more than 1,000 phoney items set to be sold to unsuspecting punters.

Dodgy dealer traded fakes; STORE OWNER ADMITS TO SELLING PHONEY GOODS

Angela Allison and husband Donald told Fake Britain how they were unwittingly prescribed 60 phoney needles to give insulin injections to their diabetic daughter Claudia, eight.

EVEN NEEDLES FROM THE NHS

I WOULD like to register a protest about Dan O'Neill's use of the words "phoney war" in his column (Cinema was the king in year of the Phoney War, October 27.

STRAIGHT TO THE point

Referring to Ihsan's letter 'Bad decision' (GDN, August 26), you are not alone in this so-called phoney telecommunication companies services, which have mushroomed suddenly and offer imaginary services.

Services imaginary

THE man accused of stabbing his model girlfriend to death was accused of being a "phoney and a bully" in court yesterday.

Court told boyfriend beat up girl; MURDER

TORY leader David Cameron was reprimanded by the Commons speaker yesterday after calling Gordon Brown a "phoney".

Cameron rapped over jibe

As the former shadow Home Secretary officially tendered his resignation as an MP, Labour pronounced the resulting contest for his Haltem price and Howden seat as "phoney".