phoney

(redirected from phoniest)
Also found in: Thesaurus, Idioms.

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 ?
Graduation rates are one of the easiest education statistics to manipulate, prompting some to call them "the phoniest statistic in education." (3) Where standardized tests are time bounded and have extensive procedural protections and quality controls, graduation rates are the culmination of a variety of requirements--showing up to school, earning passing grades, obtaining all necessary course credits, and passing end-of-course assessments--with permeable oversight.
Analyst Robert Pondiscio calls graduation percentage "the phoniest statistic in education," and veteran Washington Post reporter Jay Mathews suggests that reported improvements are "a mirage." They argue that increased pressure on teachers and principals to pass students, and highly suspect "credit recovery" practices that allow students to complete a semester's course work online in a week, combine to inflate the graduation numbers.
It takes a loose cannon, like the Donald, to put the phoniest woman on the planet in her place.
Then, to prove she's still a grassroots Chicago girl at heart, the multimillionaire from Chappaqua sneaked out of New York at 70 mph on one of the phoniest "road trips'' of all time.