fake

adjective

\ ˈfāk

faker; fakest

Definition of fake

(Entry 1 of 5)

: not true, real, or genuine : counterfeit, sham He was wearing a fake mustache. She held up the bowl to the window light and smiled her fakest smile yet …— Lee Durkee

fake

noun (1)

Definition of fake (Entry 2 of 5)

: one that is not what it purports to be: such as

a : a worthless imitation passed off as genuine The signature was a fake.

b : impostor, charlatan He told everyone that he was a lawyer, but he was just a fake.

c : a simulated movement in a sports contest (such as a pretended kick, pass, or jump or a quick movement in one direction before going in another) designed to deceive an opponent

d : a device or apparatus used by a magician to achieve the illusion of magic in a trick

fake

verb (1)

faked; faking

Definition of fake (Entry 3 of 5)

transitive verb

1 : to alter, manipulate, or treat so as to give a spuriously (see spurious sense 2) genuine appearance to : doctor faked the lab results

2 : counterfeit, simulate, concoct faked a heart attack

3 : to deceive (an opponent) in a sports contest by means of a fake (see fake entry 2 sense c)

4 : improvise, ad-lib whistle a few bars … and I'll fake the rest— Robert Sylvester

intransitive verb

1 : to engage in faking something : pretend —sometimes used with it if you don't have the answers, fake it

2 : to give a fake to an opponent The runner faked left and then cut to the right.

fake

noun (2)

Definition of fake (Entry 4 of 5)

: one loop of a coil (as of ship's rope or a fire hose) coiled free for running

fake

verb (2)

faked; faking

Definition of fake (Entry 5 of 5)

transitive verb

: to coil in fakes

Other Words from fake Synonyms & Antonyms Choose the Right Synonym More Example Sentences Learn More about fake

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Choose the Right Synonym for fake

Noun (1)

imposture, fraud, sham, fake, humbug, counterfeit mean a thing made to seem other than it is. imposture applies to any situation in which a spurious object or performance is passed off as genuine. their claim of environmental concern is an imposture fraud usually implies a deliberate perversion of the truth. the diary was exposed as a fraud sham applies to fraudulent imitation of a real thing or action. condemned the election as a sham fake implies an imitation of or substitution for the genuine but does not necessarily imply dishonesty. these jewels are fakes; the real ones are in the vault humbug suggests elaborate pretense usually so flagrant as to be transparent. creating publicity by foisting humbugs on a gullible public counterfeit applies especially to the close imitation of something valuable. 20-dollar bills that were counterfeits

Examples of fake in a Sentence

Adjective

That blood is clearly fake. He was wearing a fake mustache.

First Known Use of fake

Adjective

1775, in the meaning defined above

Noun (1)

1827, in the meaning defined above

Verb (1)

1851, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Noun (2)

1627, in the meaning defined above

Verb (2)

15th century, in the meaning defined above

History and Etymology for fake

Adjective

derivative of fake entry 2

Note: Not recorded as an adjective before the 1880's. The supposed use by the British general Richard Howe in a dispatch from Boston to the Secretary of State dated December 3, 1775 ("So many artifices have been practiced upon Strangers under the appearance of Friendship, fake Pilots &c."; Report Concerning Canadian Archives for the Year 1904, Ottawa, 1905, p. 355) is most likely a misreading (perhaps for faux or false?).

Noun (1)

derivative of fake entry 3

Verb (1)

originally underworld argot, of obscure origin

Note: The verb fake first appears in print in James Hardy Vaux's "A New and Comprehensive Vocabulary of the Flash Language," in vol. 2 of Hardy's Memoirs (London, 1819). The meanings given by Hardy are extremely general: "a word so variously used, that I can only illustrate it by a few examples. To fake any person or place, may signify to rob them; to fake a person, may also imply to shoot, wound, or cut; to fake a man out and out, is to kill him; a man who inflicts wounds upon, or otherwise disfigures, himself, for any sinister purpose, is said to have faked himself…to fake a screeve, is to write a letter, or other paper; to fake a screw, is to shape out a skeleton or false key, for the purpose of screwing a particular place; to fake a cly, is to pick a pocket; etc., etc., etc." (p. 170). However, Hardy also records bit-faking "coining base money" and both Vaux and the earlier Lexicon Balatronicum (London, 1811, a revision of Francis Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1785) record fakement in the sense "forgery"—so the sense "to simulate, counterfeit" may have been part of its original meaning. Attempts have been made to link fake with earlier argot fegue and (rarely) feak "to beat, whip, wear out, bring about the ruin of" (the latter two senses used in Restoration comedy), though these are somewhat unlikely antecedents phonetically and semantically. Perhaps all these words are part of a family of expressive vocabulary, having counterparts in other Germanic languages, with the consonantal frame f--k/g, as suggested by Anatoly Liberman (OUPblog, August 23, 2017).