Meaning

1 senses

  1. (informal)Fraudulent; fake; having a misleading appearance.

    A good jeweler should be able to tell a real stone from a phony one.

    falsch, unecht, gefälscht

    фальши́выйfalʹšívyj, подде́льныйpoddélʹnyj, ненастоя́щийnenastojáščij

    fraudulent; having a misleading appearance

Examples

13 sentences

  1. I got sucked in on a lot of phony deals.

    CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  2. Tom is a phony.

    CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  3. Tom gave a phony smile.

    CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  4. What a phony!

    CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  5. Sami created a phony e-mail address.

    OsoHombre · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

Translations

6 languages
Русский
By meaning 1
fraudulent; fake:
Deutsch
By meaning 1
fraudulent; fake:

Origin

Of unknown origin. Perhaps an alteration of fawny (“gilt brass ring used by swindlers”) (1

Of unknown origin. Perhaps an alteration of fawny (“gilt brass ring used by swindlers”) (1781), from Irish fáinne (“ring”).

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

phonier, phoniest
Comparativephonier Lesson
Superlativephoniest Lesson

regular

Synonyms

4 synonyms
fraudulent:bogusC2fakeB1counterfeit
Close in meaning
  • fraudulent; having a misleading appearance:bogusfakephoney

Antonyms

2 antonyms
authenticgenuineB2

Word family

5 related words
Derivedphonilyphoninessphony-baloneyphony diseasephonytail

Lessons for this word

2 lessons

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
phonogramphonographphonologyphosphatephosphorusphotoA1
phony — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto