Phoney
adjective
Not genuine, a fake or fraud.
I think her kindness is phoney, she just wants to impress our boss.
Often appears as...
- phoney smile
- phoney promise
Usage tips
Informal
noun
A person who pretends to be something they are not to deceive others.
He claimed to be a successful entrepreneur, but he is just a phoney.
Often appears as...
- expose a phoney
- known as a phoney
Usage tips
Informal
adjective
Not genuine, a fake or fraud.
I think her kindness is phoney, she just wants to impress our boss.
Often appears as...
- phoney smile
- phoney promise
Usage tips
Informal
noun
A person who pretends to be something they are not to deceive others.
He claimed to be a successful entrepreneur, but he is just a phoney.
Often appears as...
- expose a phoney
- known as a phoney
Usage tips
Informal
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Emotional Disguise
Used when someone hides their true feelings with fake behavior.
Her concern seemed phoney, given her past indifference.
Pro Tip 2/3Detecting Insincerity
Helps indicate skepticism about the authenticity of someone's actions or words.
His apology felt phoney; he didn't seem remorseful at all.
Pro Tip 3/3Cultural Reference
In movies, a 'phoney' character might be a villain pretending to be friendly.
The protagonist realized the mentor's advice was phoney, leading to a plot twist.
Pro Tip 1/3Emotional Disguise
Used when someone hides their true feelings with fake behavior.
Her concern seemed phoney, given her past indifference.
Pro Tip 2/3Detecting Insincerity
Helps indicate skepticism about the authenticity of someone's actions or words.
His apology felt phoney; he didn't seem remorseful at all.
Pro Tip 3/3Cultural Reference
In movies, a 'phoney' character might be a villain pretending to be friendly.
The protagonist realized the mentor's advice was phoney, leading to a plot twist.
Pro Tip 1/3Emotional Disguise
Used when someone hides their true feelings with fake behavior.
Her concern seemed phoney, given her past indifference.
Pro Tip 2/3Detecting Insincerity
Helps indicate skepticism about the authenticity of someone's actions or words.
His apology felt phoney; he didn't seem remorseful at all.
Pro Tip 3/3Cultural Reference
In movies, a 'phoney' character might be a villain pretending to be friendly.
The protagonist realized the mentor's advice was phoney, leading to a plot twist.
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Video examples
The Murder of Carmine...
What are you going to do when you get to the country? - Well, I mean, I planted peppers last week. Now I'm going to plant tomatoes. - And this completely phony picture of this mob boss is ludicrous. - You think that had an influence on the federal judge when he held that you were right and the parole commission was wrong? - I think so. I think so. - He thinks a farmer ought to be able to seed, right? - I think so.
Video examples
Why you shouldn't worry...
As an ob-gyn and pain-medicine doctor, I end up talking to my patients about poop more than you might think. Overall, I hear a lot of anxiety about it. Some people worry about not having a bowel movement once a day, even though its a phony metric. Other people struggle with constipation. Often, they don't get the treatment that they need,
Video examples
3 ways to be a more...
or are touched by your genius. This isn't a personal favor, right? Feel proud of the ask -- it's incredible that you do this work. Don't try to be someone you're not, you're going to go to these meetings and think you need to big-shot it. Be yourself, authenticity matters, nobody likes a phony.
Video examples
Joseph Pine: What...
So, understand what -- your past limits what you can do in the future. When it comes to being what you say you are, the easiest mistake that companies make is that they advertise things that they are not. That's when you're perceived as fake, as a phony company --
Video examples
The voice of the natural...
phanie the bio phanie is all of the sound that's generated by organisms in a given habitat at one time and in one place and the third is all of the sound that we humans generate that's called anthro phony some of it is controlled
Video examples
Jane Walsh: The rise of...
Then, one day, I found a detective's business card sitting on his kitchen table. He'd been ripped off by a phony roofing contractor. He'd given this guy a lot of money up front, and the guy took his money and then took off.
Video examples
Ellen Dunham-Jones:...
Now, retrofits are often accused of being examples of faux downtowns and instant urbanism, and not without reason; you don't get much more phony than an Astroturf town green. I have to say, these are very hybrid places.
Video examples
Leonard Susskind: My...
is that a Feynman sandwich had a load of ham, but absolutely no baloney. What Feynman hated worse than anything else was intellectual pretense -- phoniness, false sophistication, jargon.
Video examples
Safari Live - Day 142 PIPE...
poorly good question the best the easier of the two outside is more so in green grass when it's very green because the leopard has got that more phony color to
Video examples
Massoud the Martyr PIPE...
there were this fake journalists tv crew very suspicious for three weeks the phony reporters
Video examples
The Murder of Carmine...
What are you going to do when you get to the country? - Well, I mean, I planted peppers last week. Now I'm going to plant tomatoes. - And this completely phony picture of this mob boss is ludicrous. - You think that had an influence on the federal judge when he held that you were right and the parole commission was wrong? - I think so. I think so. - He thinks a farmer ought to be able to seed, right? - I think so.
Video examples
Why you shouldn't worry...
As an ob-gyn and pain-medicine doctor, I end up talking to my patients about poop more than you might think. Overall, I hear a lot of anxiety about it. Some people worry about not having a bowel movement once a day, even though its a phony metric. Other people struggle with constipation. Often, they don't get the treatment that they need,
Video examples
3 ways to be a more...
or are touched by your genius. This isn't a personal favor, right? Feel proud of the ask -- it's incredible that you do this work. Don't try to be someone you're not, you're going to go to these meetings and think you need to big-shot it. Be yourself, authenticity matters, nobody likes a phony.
Video examples
Joseph Pine: What...
So, understand what -- your past limits what you can do in the future. When it comes to being what you say you are, the easiest mistake that companies make is that they advertise things that they are not. That's when you're perceived as fake, as a phony company --
Video examples
The voice of the natural...
phanie the bio phanie is all of the sound that's generated by organisms in a given habitat at one time and in one place and the third is all of the sound that we humans generate that's called anthro phony some of it is controlled
Video examples
Jane Walsh: The rise of...
Then, one day, I found a detective's business card sitting on his kitchen table. He'd been ripped off by a phony roofing contractor. He'd given this guy a lot of money up front, and the guy took his money and then took off.
Video examples
Ellen Dunham-Jones:...
Now, retrofits are often accused of being examples of faux downtowns and instant urbanism, and not without reason; you don't get much more phony than an Astroturf town green. I have to say, these are very hybrid places.
Video examples
Leonard Susskind: My...
is that a Feynman sandwich had a load of ham, but absolutely no baloney. What Feynman hated worse than anything else was intellectual pretense -- phoniness, false sophistication, jargon.
Video examples
Safari Live - Day 142 PIPE...
poorly good question the best the easier of the two outside is more so in green grass when it's very green because the leopard has got that more phony color to
Video examples
Massoud the Martyr PIPE...
there were this fake journalists tv crew very suspicious for three weeks the phony reporters
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Gail Sheehy
American Writer
Be willing to shed parts of your previous life. For example, in our 20s, we wear a mask; we pretend we know more than we do. We must be willing, as we get older, to shed cocktail party phoniness and admit, 'I am who I am.
Quote examples
Nelsan Ellis
American Actor
Whenever you have a character in which one of his defining qualities is his sexuality, it's always challenging, because you don't want to bring in someone who's going to play that in a phony way.
Quote examples
James Gray
American Director
I know this sounds phony, but I don't start out on a project going, 'I'm going to make an emotional work,' you know what I mean? You try to tell the story directly and honestly and with passion.
Quote examples
Blu Cantrell
American Musician
I am disappointed in the music business, I feel like a lot of people in the music business are phoney, there's a lot of people who will abuse and take my kindness.
Quote examples
John Robinson
American Actor
If you don't know how to hold a board, you're going to look phony. That's was the biggest pressure for me was to have that respect and to look up to that.
Quote examples
Brian Austin Green
American Actor
If somebody doesn't have enough judgment to be able to look at plastic surgery and realize how phony it is, then they can't be helped.
Quote examples
Tahar Rahim
French Actor
I love fashion as an art; I love fashion as costume, as a character. I don't like dictates and the phoniness of appearance.
Quote examples
Charles R. Swindoll
American Clergyman
I let people see the cracks in my life. We can't be phony. We've got to keep it real.
Quote examples
Famke Janssen
Dutch Actress
The only way to do is just to go for it, otherwise it ends up looking phoney.
Quote examples
Ron Johnson
American
I don't respect phoniness.
Quote examples
Gail Sheehy
American Writer
Be willing to shed parts of your previous life. For example, in our 20s, we wear a mask; we pretend we know more than we do. We must be willing, as we get older, to shed cocktail party phoniness and admit, 'I am who I am.
Quote examples
Nelsan Ellis
American Actor
Whenever you have a character in which one of his defining qualities is his sexuality, it's always challenging, because you don't want to bring in someone who's going to play that in a phony way.
Quote examples
James Gray
American Director
I know this sounds phony, but I don't start out on a project going, 'I'm going to make an emotional work,' you know what I mean? You try to tell the story directly and honestly and with passion.
Quote examples
Blu Cantrell
American Musician
I am disappointed in the music business, I feel like a lot of people in the music business are phoney, there's a lot of people who will abuse and take my kindness.
Quote examples
John Robinson
American Actor
If you don't know how to hold a board, you're going to look phony. That's was the biggest pressure for me was to have that respect and to look up to that.
Quote examples
Brian Austin Green
American Actor
If somebody doesn't have enough judgment to be able to look at plastic surgery and realize how phony it is, then they can't be helped.
Quote examples
Tahar Rahim
French Actor
I love fashion as an art; I love fashion as costume, as a character. I don't like dictates and the phoniness of appearance.
Quote examples
Charles R. Swindoll
American Clergyman
I let people see the cracks in my life. We can't be phony. We've got to keep it real.
Quote examples
Famke Janssen
Dutch Actress
The only way to do is just to go for it, otherwise it ends up looking phoney.
Quote examples
Ron Johnson
American
I don't respect phoniness.
Example 1 of 10
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