bogus

adjective

bo·​gus ˈbō-gəs 

: not genuine : counterfeit, sham

a bogus claim

The evidence was completely bogus.

bogusly adverb

bogusness noun

Did you know?

Bogus Has a Long History

In her 1840 novel A New Home—Who’ll Follow?, author Carolina Kirkland wrote about a scandal affecting the fictitious frontier town of Tinkerville, whose bank vaults were discovered to contain “a heavy charge of broken glass and tenpenny nails, covered above and below with half-dollars, principally ‘bogus.’ Alas! for Tinkerville, and alas, for poor Michigan!” Alas indeed. Bogus (an apparent U.S. coinage) was first used in the argot of wildcat banks (like the one in Tinkerville) as a noun referring to counterfeit money. It later branched out into adjective use meaning “counterfeit or forged.” Although the noun is now obsolete, the adjective is still used today with the same meaning, and is applied not only to phony currency but to anything that is less than genuine, making it part of a treasury of similar words ranging from the very old (sham) to the fairly new (fugazi).

Synonyms

• fake
• faux
• synthetic
• simulated
• artificial
• false
• dummy
• imitation

Examples of bogus in a Sentence

It was just a bogus claim.

The evidence was completely bogus.

Recent Examples on the Web

To me, more pragmatism means moving away from the corrupt, capricious policies of the current administration, such as crony capitalism that imposes bogus tariffs on free trade, punishing leaders and countries the president dislikes while favoring those who flatter him. —Chicago Tribune, 5 Sep. 2025

Certain advertising outlets wouldn’t take ads for certain films, for really bogus reasons. —Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 5 Sep. 2025

Here are 3 things to know Reducing these problem fat areas has given rise to all sorts of bogus approaches, including special creams, dietary concoctions, pills, electronic stimulators, etc. —Bryant Stamford, The Courier-Journal, 29 Aug. 2025

First, Pirro used Fox News to amplify bogus conspiracy theories about voter machine fraud after Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden. —Chris Brennan, USA Today, 29 Aug. 2025

Word History

Etymology

obsolete argot bogus counterfeit money

First Known Use

1825, in the meaning defined above

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Kids Definition

bogus

adjective

bo·​gus ˈbō-gəs 

: not genuine : counterfeit, sham