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phonied

pho·ny
P p

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [foh-nee]
    • /ˈfoʊ ni/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [foh-nee]
    • /ˈfoʊ ni/

Definitions of phonied word

  • adjective phonied not real or genuine; fake; counterfeit: a phony diamond. 1
  • adjective phonied false or deceiving; not truthful; concocted: a phony explanation. 1
  • adjective phonied insincere or deceitful; affected or pretentious: a phony sales representative. 1
  • noun plural phonied something that is phony; a counterfeit or fake. 1
  • noun plural phonied an insincere, pretentious, or deceitful person: He thought my friends were a bunch of phonies. 1
  • verb with object phonied to falsify; counterfeit; fabricate (often followed by up): to phony up a document. 1

Information block about the term

Origin of phonied

First appearance:

before 1895
One of the 18% newest English words
1895-1900; perhaps alteration and respelling of fawney (slang) finger ring (< Irish fsptáinne), if taken to mean “false” in the phrase fawney rig a confidence game in which a brass ring is sold as a gold one

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Phonied

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation

phonied popularity

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 86% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.
Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between "mom" and "screwdriver".

phonied usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Synonyms for phonied

noun phonied

  • fronted — Simple past tense and past participle of front.
  • quacked — Simple past tense and past participle of quack.

verb phonied

  • misspoke — Simple past form of misspeak.
  • overdrew — Simple past form of overdraw.

See also

Matching words

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