English Dictionary

PHONY (phonier, phoniest)

Pronunciation (US): Play  (GB): Play

IPA (US): 

Irregular inflected forms: phonier  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation, phoniest  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation

 Dictionary entry overview: What does phony mean? 

PHONY (noun)
  The noun PHONY has 1 sense:

1. a person who professes beliefs and opinions that he or she does not hold in order to conceal his or her real feelings or motivesplay

  Familiarity information: PHONY used as a noun is very rare.


PHONY (adjective)
  The adjective PHONY has 1 sense:

1. fraudulent; having a misleading appearanceplay

  Familiarity information: PHONY used as an adjective is very rare.


 Dictionary entry details 


PHONY (noun)


Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

dissembler; dissimulator; hypocrite; phoney; phony; pretender

Hypernyms ("phony" is a kind of...):

beguiler; cheat; cheater; deceiver; slicker; trickster (someone who leads you to believe something that is not true)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "phony"):

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)

Derivation:

phony (fraudulent; having a misleading appearance)


PHONY (adjective)


Sense 1

Meaning:

Fraudulent; having a misleading appearance

Synonyms:

bastard; bogus; fake; phoney; phony

Similar:

counterfeit; imitative (not genuine; imitating something superior)

Derivation:

phony (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)


 Learn English with... Proverbs 
"If you keep your mouth shut, you won't put your foot in it." (English proverb)

"Fun and pleasure are located below the navel; dispute and trouble are also located there." (Bhutanese proverb)

"The mind is for seeing, the heart is for hearing." (Arabic proverb)

"Lies have twisted limbs." (Corsican proverb)



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