Phony
//ˈfoʊni// adj, noun, verb, slang
adj, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·Middle school level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A person who assumes an identity or quality other than their own. informal
"He claims to be a doctor, but he's nothing but a fast-talking phony."
- 2 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 wordnet
- 3 A person who professes beliefs or opinions that they do not hold. informal
"He's such a phony, he doesn't believe half of what he says."
- 4 Anything fraudulent or fake. informal
"One name was a phony, but the other was the true name. The clerk remembered the man who had filed the tags since he acquired two sets of plates with different names."
Verb
- 1 To fake. informal
Adjective
- 1 Fraudulent; fake; having a misleading appearance. informal
"A good jeweler should be able to tell a real stone from a phony one."
Adjective
- 1 fraudulent; having a misleading appearance wordnet
Example
More examples"I got sucked in on a lot of phony deals."
Etymology
Of unknown origin. Perhaps an alteration of fawny (“gilt brass ring used by swindlers”) (1781), from Irish fáinne (“ring”).
Related phrases
More for "phony"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.