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phoney

US/ˈfoʊni/
adjectiveB2Common in everyday speech and writing · #4,755 of 15,258leans spoken

Phoney means insincere and put on. A phoney accent, a phoney smile, the whole thing is phoney.

It says the warmth or the credentials are an act, and applied to a person it is a serious charge about character rather than a comment on manners. Americans spell it phony. The Phoney War was the quiet months of 1939 before fighting began in earnest.

Definitions of phoney

  1. 1adjectivephoneyInsincere and put on.B2

    “His phoney smile didn't fool anyone; he clearly didn't want us there.”

phoney is a quality.

Also accepted in games: phony

Where it comes from

  1. Irish

    fáinne — ring

  2. English

    phony

  3. English, today

    phoney

Built from

  • fawny · English — gilt brass ring used by swindlers

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

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word