phony
adjective · noun · verb
Simple meaning
Not real or sincere; intended to trick people.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
fohneeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈfoʊni
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
informal
Fraudulent; fake; having a misleading appearance.
noun
informal
Anything fraudulent or fake.
informal
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
informal
A person who assumes an identity or quality other than their own.
verb
informal
To fake.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Fraudulent; fake; having a misleading appearance.
Used this way, phony is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It turns up most in everyday conversation and social media or informal writing contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Casual
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Casual and conversational
Where it naturally appears
- Everyday conversation
- Social media/informal writing
Nearby words
- phoney , used mainly in Regional English
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: fraudulent
Antonyms
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.