Hokey

//ˈhəʊki// adj, slang

adj, slang ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Phony, as if a hoax; noticeably contrived; of obviously flimsy credibility or quality. US, colloquial

    "When asked for his book report, Chad came up with a series of hokier and hokier excuses."

  2. 2
    Corny; overly or unbelievably sentimental. US, colloquial

    "Terry hated going to the cinema with Pat; she always chose hokey romantic comedies that made him want to gag."

Adjective
  1. 1
    artificially formal wordnet
  2. 2
    effusively or insincerely emotional wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
artificialbatheticcheesycheesycontrivedcontrived

Example

More examples

"How can you stomach that hokey docusoap?"

Etymology

From the verb hoke (“to give an artificial feel to”), from hokum.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.