Fake — Meaning, Definition & Synonyms

adjective noun verb /ˈfāk/

Meaning & Definition of Fake

Fake (adjective)

  1. not true, real, or genuine, counterfeit, sham

Fake (noun)

  1. one that is not what it purports to be
  2. a worthless imitation passed off as genuine
  3. impostor, charlatan
  4. one loop of a coil (as of ship's rope or a fire hose) coiled free for running

Fake (verb)

  1. to alter, manipulate, or treat so as to give a spuriously genuine appearance to, doctor
  2. counterfeit, simulate, concoct
  3. to deceive (an opponent) in a sports contest by means of a fake
  4. to coil in fakes

Fake (adjective) — Senses, Synonyms & Antonyms

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

    "arrested for peddling designer watches that were fake"

    similar: bogus, counterfeit, 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

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

    "opposed to the unnecessary killing of animals, she'll consider wearing only fake furs"

    similar: artificial, bogus, dummy, ersatz, factitious, 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

  3. lacking in natural or spontaneous quality

    "the boss's pitiful attempts at humor were met with fake laughter"

    similar: affected, artificial, assumed, bogus, contrived, factitious, 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

  4. not being or expressing what one appears to be or express

    "the fake friendliness of the sales rep made me want to gag"

    similar: artificial, backhanded, counterfeit, double, double-dealing, double-faced, feigned, hypocritical, insincere, Janus-faced, jive (slang), left-handed, lip, mealy, mealymouthed, Pecksniffian, phony, phony-baloney, pretended, two-faced, unctuous
    related: affected, assumed, claptrap, contrived, forced, mechanical, put-on, simulated, strained, unnatural, empty, hollow, meaningless, deceitful, devious, dishonest, false, untruthful, facile, glib, superficial, bogus, sham, campy, facetious, jocular, tongue-in-cheek, canting, pharisaical, pious, sanctimonious, self-righteous, simon-pure
    opposite: artless, candid, genuine, heartfelt, honest, sincere, undesigning, unfeigned
    near: direct, forthright, frank, heart-to-heart, open, plain, straightforward

Fake (noun) — Senses, Synonyms & Antonyms

  1. an imitation that is passed off as genuine

    "experts declared that one of the museum's prized paintings was actually a fake"

    similar: counterfeit, forgery, hoax, humbug, phony, sham
    related: copycat, knockoff, copy, facsimile, replica, reproduction, dummy, mock-up, fraud, gaff, imposture, spoof, swindle, simulation, synthetic, bastard, brummagem, duffer, shoddy
    near: original

  2. one who makes false claims of identity or expertise

    "a hidden-camera investigation revealed that the so-called psychic was a fake"

    similar: charlatan, faker, fakir, fraud, hoaxer, humbug, impostor, mountebank, phony, pretender, quack, quacksalver, ringer, sham
    related: copycat, imitator, impersonator, mimic, actor, bluffer, counterfeiter, deceiver, dissembler, duper, feigner, misleader, operator, trickster, poseur, cozener, defrauder, dodger, fraudster (chiefly British), scammer, scamster, sharper, sharpie, skinner, swindler
    near: ace, adept, authority, crackerjack, expert, maestro, master, past master, professional, virtuoso, whiz, wizard

Fake (verb) — Senses, Synonyms & Antonyms

  1. to imitate or copy especially in order to deceive

    "pranksters faked giant footprints and then claimed that they had seen Bigfoot"

    similar: counterfeit, forge, phony
    related: simulate, duplicate, reduplicate, replicate, reproduce, crib, plagiarize, adulterate, doctor, fudge, juggle, manipulate, tamper (with), concoct, cook (up), fabricate, invent

  2. to present a false appearance of

    "while running for class president, Dan was not above faking friendship with people just to get their votes"

    similar: act, affect, assume, bluff, counterfeit, dissemble, feign, pass (for), pretend, profess, put on, sham, simulate, make believe
    related: dissimulate, impersonate, let on, masquerade, play, playact, pose, forge, imitate, camouflage, conceal, disguise, mask, feint, malinger

  3. to perform, make, or do without preparation

    "if you give me the gist of the plan, I can probably fake enough for the speech"

    similar: ad-lib, clap (together or up), extemporize, improvise
    related: concoct, contrive, cook (up), devise, fabricate, hatch, invent, make up, manufacture, think (up), cobble (together or up), dash (off)
    near: arrange, lay, prepare, ready, consider, contemplate, ponder, study, exercise, practice, rehearse

  4. to elude (an opponent in a sports contest) by making a deceptive or agile movement

    "the running back faked the defense by stepping to his left and then quickly cutting to the right"

    similar: deke, fake out, juke
    related: dodge, evade, sidestep, slip, pump-fake, stutter-step, maneuver (around)

Related Entry: Flake (noun)

Flake is a different word from Fake. The synonyms below are for flake, not for fake.

  1. a small flat piece separated from a whole

    "sprinkle the cake with coconut flakes"

    similar: chip, sliver, spall, splint, splinter
    related: bit, disk, fragment, part, particle, portion, scrap, section, shard, flinders, shiver, smithereens, shred, tatter, clipping, paring, shave, shaving, snippet, leaf, sheet, slice
    near: chunk, hunk, lump, slab

Related Entry: Flake (noun)

Flake is a different word from Fake. The synonyms below are for flake, not for fake.

  1. a person of odd or whimsical habits

    "the lady with all those cats is sweet, but kind of a flake"

    similar: character, codger, crack, crackbrain, crackpot, crank, eccentric, fruitcake, head case, kook, loon, loony, nut, nutcase, nutter (British slang), oddball, oddity, original, quiz, screwball, wacko, weirdo, zany, odd duck, piece of work
    related: bohemian, maverick, nonconformist, quixote, coot, geezer, curio, rarity, freak, fantast, fantastico
    near: conformer, conformist, follower, sheep

Related Entry: Fake out (verb)

Fake out is a different word from Fake. The synonyms below are for fake out, not for fake.

  1. to cause to believe what is untrue

    "my friends faked me out for a whole day, letting me think that they had forgotten my birthday"

    similar: bamboozle, beguile, bluff, buffalo, burn, catch, con, cozen, deceive, delude, dupe, fool, gaff, gammon, gull, have, have on (chiefly British), hoax, hoodwink, hornswoggle, humbug, juggle, misguide, misinform, mislead, snooker, snow, spoof, string along, suck in, sucker, take in, trick, do a number on, lead one down the garden path, pull one's leg, pull the wool over one's eyes
    related: kid, put on, tease, bleed, cheat, chisel, defraud, diddle, euchre, fleece, flimflam, hustle, mulct, rook, shortchange, skin, squeeze, stick, sting, swindle
    opposite: undeceive
    near: debunk, expose, reveal, show up, uncloak, uncover, unmask, disclose, divulge, tell, unveil, disabuse, disenchant, disillusion

  2. to elude (an opponent in a sports contest) by making a deceptive or agile movement

    "used a quick between-the-legs dribble to fake out the flat-footed defender"

    similar: deke, fake, juke
    related: dodge, evade, sidestep, slip, pump-fake, stutter-step, maneuver (around)

Related Entry: Pump-fake (verb)

Pump-fake is a different word from Fake. The synonyms below are for pump-fake, not for fake.

  1. as in stutter-step

    similar: stutter-step, dodge, evade, sidestep, slip, maneuver (around), deke, fake, fake out, juke

Synonyms, Thesaurus & Another Word for Fake

The most common words with a similar meaning to Fake:

Slang: jive
bogus, counterfeit, false, forged, inauthentic, phony, sham, snide, spurious, unauthentic, artificial, dummy, ersatz, factitious, faux, imitation, imitative, man-made, mimic, mock, pretend, simulated, substitute, synthetic, affected, assumed, contrived, feigned, forced, mechanical, plastic, pretended, pseudo, put-on, strained, unnatural, backhanded, double, double-dealing, double-faced

Antonyms & Opposite Words for Fake

Words with the opposite meaning of Fake:

authentic, bona fide, genuine, real, unfaked, natural, artless, spontaneous, unaffected, uncontrived, unfeigned, unforced, candid, heartfelt, honest, sincere, undesigning

Related Words for Fake

nonfunctioning, ornamental, cultured, fabricated, manufactured, deceptive, delusive, misleading, process, adulterated, designer, doctored, engineered, fudged, juggled, manipulated, tampered (with), concocted, fraudulent, brummagem, pinchbeck, automatic, canned, hokey, labored, pat, unreal, unrealistic, empty, facile

Near Antonyms of Fake

actual, true, valid, legitimate, premium, quality, valuable, pure, unadulterated, realistic, right, ingenuous, unpretending, easy, effortless, smooth, extemporaneous, impromptu, impulsive, instinctive, unconscious, unprompted, unrehearsed, unstudied, direct, forthright, frank, heart-to-heart, open, plain

Word Forms of Fake

Inflections: faker, fakest, faked, faking

Derived words: faker (noun), fakery (noun)

Origin & Etymology of Fake

derivative of fake:2

First known use: 1879

Vocabulary Lists & Topics for Fake

Words & Phrases Containing Fake

fake out, fake it, pump fake, up-fake

Frequently Asked Questions about Fake

What does "Fake" mean?

"Fake" means not true, real, or genuine, counterfeit, sham. As an an adjective, a noun and a verb, it is defined as: not true, real, or genuine, counterfeit, sham. It has 10 distinct senses.

What is another word for "Fake"?

Other words for "Fake" include bogus, counterfeit, false, forged, inauthentic, phony, sham and snide. The best synonym depends on which meaning of "Fake" you intend.

What are different ways to say "Fake"?

There are 245 words and phrases with a similar meaning to "Fake". Common alternatives include bogus, counterfeit, false, forged, inauthentic, phony, sham, snide, spurious and unauthentic.

What is the opposite of "Fake"?

Antonyms of "Fake" include authentic, bona fide, genuine, real, unfaked, natural, artless and spontaneous. Near antonyms include actual, true, valid and legitimate.

How do you use "Fake" in a sentence?

Examples of "Fake" in a sentence: "arrested for peddling designer watches that were fake"; "opposed to the unnecessary killing of animals, she'll consider wearing only fake furs"; "the boss's pitiful attempts at humor were met with fake laughter".

Is "Fake" a noun, verb, or adjective?

"Fake" can be used as an adjective, a noun and a verb, depending on the context.

Is "Fake" useful for IELTS, TOEFL, and other English exams?

As a B2-level word, "Fake" is typical of Cambridge B2 First (FCE), IELTS band 5.5–6.5, TOEFL iBT 72–94, PTE Academic 59–75, TOEIC Listening & Reading 785+.

How do you pronounce "Fake"?

"Fake" is pronounced /ˈfāk/.