phoney

(redirected from phonies)
Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Legal, Financial, Idioms, Encyclopedia.

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:
Noun1.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 motivesphoney - 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
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
counterfeit, imitative - not genuine; imitating something superior; "counterfeit emotion"; "counterfeit money"; "counterfeit works of art"; "a counterfeit prince"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

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:
2. Not genuine or sincere:
noun
1. A fraudulent imitation:
3. A person who practices hypocrisy:
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
lažen

phoney

phony (US also) [ˈfəʊnɪ]
A. ADJ [moustache] → falso, postizo; [name, document, smile] → falso; [accent] → fingido
there's sth phoney about itesto 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
n
(= 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, peacefaul (inf); name, accentfalsch; passport, moneygefälscht; story, reporterfunden; a phoney doctorein Scharlatan m; a phoney policemanein zwielichtiger Polizist; a phoney companyeine Schwindelfirma; a phoney warkein echter Krieg; he’s so phoneyder ist doch nicht echt (inf); there’s something phoney about itda ist was faul dran (inf)
(= insincere) personfalsch; emotionunecht, 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
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
References in periodicals archive ?
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.
about that bunch down at Parkway Baptist, a pack of phonies
The relatively straightforward breakup reminiscence "Littlest Things" softens her up just enough, but she's at her best when facing down anyone who gets in her way, be they social phonies ("Friend of Mine"), mean-spirited door people ("Friday Night"), or exboyfriends who are, ahem, ill-equipped ("Not Big").