PHONY (phonier, phoniest)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: phonier    , phoniest   

 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 motives

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

• PHONY (adjective)
  The adjective PHONY has 1 sense:

1. fraudulent; having a misleading appearance

  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)