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phoniest

pho·ney
P p

Transcription

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

Definitions of phoniest word

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

Information block about the term

Origin of phoniest

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 Phoniest

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation

phoniest popularity

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 77% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.
According to our data most of word are more popular. This word is almost not used. It has a much more popular synonym.

phoniest usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

See also

Matching words

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