How to Use phony in a Sentence

phony

1 of 2 adjective

• Here's how to spot the phony ones.
  — Asal Rezaei, CBS News, 11 May 2026
• Here's how to spot the phony ones.
  — Jermont Terry, CBS News, 12 May 2026
• That makes some of this outrage feel phony.
  — ABC News, 10 June 2026
• The phony bear suit that was used in the insurance scam.
  — Matthew Rodriguez, CBS News, 16 Apr. 2026
• Yet she was still shaken even hours after the phony call.
  — Denise Crosby, Chicago Tribune, 10 Aug. 2025
• She's now got the big phony tits and everything.
  — Debbie Day, Entertainment Weekly, 21 Oct. 2025
• What's best, of course, is to avoid those fake texts and phony calls completely.
  — Susan Tompor, USA TODAY, 24 Aug. 2022
• Feels a little phony, phony to me.
  — Greta Bjornson, PEOPLE, 15 Jan. 2026
• The phony headstone had the names of my mother and father on it.
  — Brayden Garcia, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 2 Feb. 2024
• The clerk believed the woman may have used phony money to pay for goods.
  — cleveland, 27 Sep. 2022
• Mother of mercy, can this be the end of phony election claims?
  — Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune, 20 Aug. 2023
• The movie makes no secret of its phony mechanics.
  — Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 4 Mar. 2026
• But true talls tend to be wary of phony talls — women in stilettos, for example.
  — Scott Cacciola, New York Times, 21 Mar. 2023
• Good to know there is safer phony stuff that multi-billion-dollar teams aren’t using.
  — Nick Canepa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 Dec. 2023
• History tells us that a phony nose is as good a way as any to catch the attention of the electorate.
  — Jody Rosen, The New Yorker, 7 Oct. 2023
• There was never a circus of fake, phony, lame, press conferences.
  — Rachel Schilke, Washington Examiner, 10 Jan. 2024
• The problem over phony reviews is not new for Amazon, or e-commerce as a whole.
  — Haleluya Hadero, Chicago Tribune, 19 July 2022
• When phony politicians try to be relatable, stupid things happen.
  — Jenny Goldsberry, Washington Examiner, 29 Oct. 2023
• Many on the British right have become convinced that victory in the war was in some way phony.
  — Christian Edwards, CNN Money, 7 Sep. 2025
• That’s why phony calls threatening jail time from the IRS work so well.
  — Kim Komando, USA TODAY, 2 Mar. 2022
• How scammers are trying to lure victims using phony job listings.
  — Kayla Hayempour, NBC news, 20 Oct. 2025
• But Donnie ain't phony like Varnell.
  — Angela Andaloro, PEOPLE, 30 Jan. 2026
• Pick which of the following Erewhon offerings are legit and which are phony.
  — Nikki Sternberg, HollywoodReporter, 20 Sep. 2025
• The indictment contends the tweets about phony voter fraud and even the lawsuit were part of a similar scheme.
  — Nicholas Riccardi and Meg Kinnard, BostonGlobe.com, 15 Aug. 2023
• So believes Claudine Gay, a race hire, mediocrity, and phony who plays the victim.
  — Brian T. Allen, National Review, 11 Jan. 2024
• The owner of the bag told airport security screenings that the phony bomb was a training prop.
  — Hali Smith, Idaho Statesman, 29 Jan. 2026
• Some phony social media accounts pose as critics of the government to promote false news.
  — Elahe Izadi, Washington Post, 28 Nov. 2022
• The morning after the fire, Morgan was arrested once again, this time on a phony charge of a $2 debt.
  — Colin Dickey, Smithsonian Magazine, 11 July 2023
• Iraq had phony weapons of mass destruction; Trump has fictional fentanyl.
  — Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 14 Jan. 2026
• Doing the right thing was Marsha’s credo, and there was never anything phony or self-serving about it.
  — Alan K. Rode, Variety, 10 Sep. 2022

phony

2 of 2 noun

• According to him, politics is full of phonies.
• I don't think she ever meant to help us. What a phony!
• But if you get pegged as a phony, then that can be a problem.
  — Tim Graham, New York Times, 13 Feb. 2026
• The men who flocked to spring training sites were called scabs, cast as anti-union phonies.
  — Cody Stavenhagen, New York Times, 17 Feb. 2026
• Ever attuned to potential scams from phonies and loons alike, our man had seen through it all.
  — Luke O'Neil, Esquire, 5 Jan. 2018
• But the modern mixology craze leaves little room for phonies.
  — Nancy Luna, Orange County Register, 14 June 2017
• But the screen Larry saw for a bank statement was likely a phony.
  — Dallas News, 21 June 2021
• Sounds like a total phony that's only in it for the money anymore.
  — Chris Malone, Billboard, 24 Oct. 2017
• Trump on the campaign trail called the unemployment rate phony, so these claims are flip-flops.
  — Salvador Rizzo, Washington Post, 10 July 2018
• The Catcher in the Rye is Holden Caulfield’s hate of phonies.
  — Tatum Dooley, Teen Vogue, 27 June 2019
• Meghan Markle is a little phony for that fake British accent coming through.
  — Kathleen Joyce, Fox News, 2 Oct. 2018
• In the holding cell, the phony inmates prompted Martinez to talk.
  — Teri Figueroa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Sep. 2019
• Feeling like a phony is not uncommon and doesn’t signify that something is wrong with you.
  — Hanna Hart, Forbes, 24 Feb. 2021
• The resident was suspicious, confirmed the check was a phony and did not deposit the check.
  — Kimberly Fornek, chicagotribune.com, 2 Nov. 2020
• Even today, students can tell you that the biggest phony in the book is Holden himself.
  — Los Angeles Times, 1 July 2026
• Kelly Master knows that women who dance naked for a living can see through phonies instantly.
  — Kevin Riordan, Philly.com, 6 Apr. 2018
• And your stage persona is usually making fun of a show-business-phony-type person.
  — Jesse David Fox, Vulture, 16 Sep. 2021
• SEALs can find a phony with only a few questions, so thieves beware.
  — Ed Hiner, sandiegouniontribune.com, 15 May 2017
• The movie was inspired by a real person but nearly everything that happens here plays as phony.
  — Los Angeles Times, 8 Aug. 2019
• Her phony stunt served no purpose but to feed her political ambitions.
  — David Hernandez, San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 June 2019
• In trying to weed out a phony, reviewers can consider the slant of the writing and how letters are shaped and spaced.
  — Michael R. Blood and Kathleen Ronayne, USA TODAY, 16 Mar. 2021
• His opponent is a phony, the captive of sinister leftist forces.
  — Susan B. Glasser, The New Yorker, 28 Aug. 2020
• This is the part of the season when the real teams separate themselves from the phonies, and right now the Colts look fraudulent.
  — James Boyd, New York Times, 1 Dec. 2025
• The victim deposits the check, wires the money and the money is long gone before the victim is told the initial check was a phony and did not clear.
  — Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press, 9 Mar. 2018
• Republicans like Carney, sizing up the trend, say Hegar is a phony.
  — Tom Benning, Dallas News, 28 Oct. 2020
• The extension will produce a phony, four-way conference call comprised of three imposter colleagues and your show/movie of choice.
  — Clarkisha Kent, EW.com, 9 July 2019
• Leland, meanwhile, fancies himself a kind of Holden Caulfield type, too smart for this life, able to see the phonies in a world of hypocrisy.
  — New York Times, 21 June 2018
• Putting up a false front to impress someone could likely come off as phony, which could ultimately have a negative impact.
  — Tribune Content Agency, oregonlive.com, 27 June 2019
• These Hollywood phonies kissing up to Sean Spicer are disgusting.
  — Laura Bradley, vanityfair.com, 19 Sep. 2017
• Investigators suspect the intent was to sell the phony rings as a collection.
  — BostonGlobe.com, 12 Sep. 2019