Bogus — Meaning, Definition & Synonyms

Bogus (adjective) — Senses, Synonyms & Antonyms

1. being such in appearance only and made with or manufactured from usually cheaper materials

   "for that price, you're only going to get furniture covered in bogus leather and not the real stuff"

   similar: artificial, dummy, ersatz, factitious, fake, false, faux, imitation, imitative, man-made, mimic, mock, pretend, sham, simulated, substitute, synthetic
   related: cultured, manufactured, process, unauthentic, adulterated, designer, doctored, engineered, fudged, juggled, manipulated, tampered (with), concocted, fabricated, counterfeit, deceptive, forged, fraudulent, misleading, phony, affected, brummagem, feigned, pinchbeck, pseudo, spurious
   opposite: genuine, natural, real
   near: authentic, bona fide, legitimate, true, premium, quality, valuable, pure, unadulterated

2. being such in appearance only and made or manufactured with the intention of committing fraud

   "the designer watches sold on the street are usually bogus"

   similar: counterfeit, fake, false, forged, inauthentic, phony, sham, snide, spurious, unauthentic
   related: artificial, factitious, imitation, man-made, mimic, mock, simulated, substitute, synthetic, dummy, nonfunctioning, ornamental, cultured, fabricated, manufactured, deceptive, delusive, misleading
   opposite: authentic, bona fide, genuine, real, unfaked
   near: natural, actual, true, valid

3. lacking in natural or spontaneous quality

   "there was often a lot of bogus conviviality at the company's parties"

   similar: affected, artificial, assumed, contrived, factitious, fake, false, feigned, forced, mechanical, mock, phony, plastic, pretended, pseudo, put-on, sham, simulated, spurious, strained, unnatural
   related: automatic, canned, concocted, fabricated, hokey, labored, manufactured, pat, unauthentic, unreal, unrealistic, double-dealing, empty, facile, hollow, hypocritical, insincere, left-handed, mealy, mealymouthed, two-faced, unctuous, exaggerated, histrionic, melodramatic, overacted, overdone, theatrical, cute, cutesy, genteel, goody-goody, mincing, overrefined, simpering, conventional, formal, impersonal, inflexible, rigid, stiff, stylized, wooden, artful, calculated, conscious, cultivated, deliberate, premeditated, studied
   opposite: artless, genuine, natural, spontaneous, unaffected, uncontrived, unfeigned, unforced
   near: authentic, bona fide, real, realistic, right, true, honest, ingenuous, sincere, unpretending, easy, effortless, smooth, extemporaneous, impromptu, impulsive, instinctive, unconscious, unprompted, unrehearsed, unstudied