1
as in counterfeit
being such in appearance only and made or manufactured with the intention of committing fraud
arrested for peddling "designer" watches that were fake
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2
as in synthetic
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
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3
as in mock
lacking in natural or spontaneous quality
the boss's pitiful attempts at humor were met with fake laughter
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4
as in double
not being or expressing what one appears to be or express
the fake friendliness of the sales rep made me want to gag
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1
as in hoax
an imitation that is passed off as genuine
experts declared that one of the museum's prized paintings was actually a fake
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2
as in fraud
one who makes false claims of identity or expertise
a hidden-camera investigation revealed that the so-called psychic was a fake
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1
as in to counterfeit
to imitate or copy especially in order to deceive
pranksters faked giant footprints and then claimed that they had seen Bigfoot
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2
as in to pretend
to present a false appearance of
while running for class president, Dan was not above faking friendship with people just to get their votes
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3
as in to concoct
to perform, make, or do without preparation
if you give me the gist of the plan, I can probably fake enough for the speech
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4
as in to evade
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
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as in deception
the inclination or practice of misleading others through lies or trickery
if the product were any good, the company wouldn't have to resort to fakery to get people to buy it
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of fake
Rajiv Vinnakota, Forbes.com, 28 May 2026
Sponsored by the California Restaurant Association, the bill is intended to protect diners from deceptive markups and give restaurants, which already operate on thin margins, new tools to fight fake bookings, no-shows, and lost revenue.
—Kassia Bonesteel, CBS News, 28 May 2026
Steve Piper, Forbes.com, 26 May 2026
Paul McCartney is a master of the fake-out.
—Chris Willman, Variety, 23 May 2026
Jeff Spry, Space.com, 31 May 2026
But a week after reporting the kidnapping, investigators arrested the couple at their Cabazon home after determining that Emmanuel was most likely dead and the couple had faked their story.
—Ruben Vives, Los Angeles Times, 29 May 2026
Brad Templeton, Forbes.com, 30 Jan. 2026
Texas politics, no stranger to dirty tricks, now heads into a hypercharged 2026 election season with few rules governing artificial intelligence, as cheap, realistic tools have made campaign fakery easier to create and harder to detect.
—Philip Jankowski, Dallas Morning News, 2 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for fake
Adjective
Doing so will help ensure students become effective citizens who are able to sift through propaganda and distortions to discern what’s real and what’s fake, what’s fact and what’s opinion.
—Rajiv Vinnakota, Forbes.com, 28 May 2026
Sponsored by the California Restaurant Association, the bill is intended to protect diners from deceptive markups and give restaurants, which already operate on thin margins, new tools to fight fake bookings, no-shows, and lost revenue.
—Kassia Bonesteel, CBS News, 28 May 2026
Noun
With deepfake attacks only showing signs of increasing, organizations must accept that no automated or human detection system is foolproof, and that resilience requires shifting focus from spotting the fake to slowing and containing the abuse of trust.
—Steve Piper, Forbes.com, 26 May 2026
Paul McCartney is a master of the fake-out.
—Chris Willman, Variety, 23 May 2026
Verb
Hit men are dispatched, homicide takes hold, and a smear campaign is hatched to discredit Zaminsky as faking signals to keep his SETI gig.
—Jeff Spry, Space.com, 31 May 2026
But a week after reporting the kidnapping, investigators arrested the couple at their Cabazon home after determining that Emmanuel was most likely dead and the couple had faked their story.
—Ruben Vives, Los Angeles Times, 29 May 2026
Noun
What would be the point of them doing obvious fakery?
—Brad Templeton, Forbes.com, 30 Jan. 2026
Texas politics, no stranger to dirty tricks, now heads into a hypercharged 2026 election season with few rules governing artificial intelligence, as cheap, realistic tools have made campaign fakery easier to create and harder to detect.
—Philip Jankowski, Dallas Morning News, 2 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for fake
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fake
Adjective
-
Prosecutors alleged Roberts knowingly lacked employment authorization for nearly all of his two-decade career in urban education and submitted a counterfeit Social Security card when he was hired as superintendent of the Des Moines public school district, which serves 30,000 students.—
Hannah Fingerhut,
Los Angeles Times,
29 May 2026
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Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin then told CBS in May that ICE would be focused on counterfeit products, particularly tickets and clothing.—
Adam Crafton,
New York Times,
29 May 2026
Adjective
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Without synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, researchers estimate farmers could only feed around half of the approximately eight billon people on the planet.—
Jackie Flynn Mogensen,
Scientific American,
1 June 2026
-
In practice, Teng explained, this means customers will soon be able to create a synthetic version of certain stocks by converting them into a digital token on the company’s BNB blockchain.—
Jeff John Roberts,
Fortune,
1 June 2026
Adjective
-
Lewis oversaw workshops with school kids himself, traveling to schools in his free time, staging mock trials and handing out copies of legal documents, like the Constitution.—
Miami Herald,
Miami Herald,
31 May 2026
-
Each year, a different brother played Paddy, lying in the coffin, where he was roasted by a series of mock eulogies.—
Peter Hessler,
New Yorker,
31 May 2026
Adjective
-
Frenetic winds robbed Wilyer Abreu of a go-ahead two-run homer in the sixth, but Willson Contreras’ subsequent line drive made contact with the left-field wall for a game-tying RBI double and knocked Schlittler out of the game.—
Gabrielle Starr,
Boston Herald,
7 June 2026
-
On Friday, tech stocks led a market bloodbath after the Labor Department’s monthly jobs report showed employers added a net 172,000 jobs last month, nearly double Wall Street forecasts.—
Jason Ma,
Fortune,
7 June 2026
Noun
-
One of them, Laurentius Müller, did indeed employ a speaking puppet, and it was documented as a hoax.—
Ron Cowen,
Scientific American,
3 June 2026
-
Distrust and violence flare in the Democratic Republic of Congo as rumors spread that the outbreak — and the disease itself — is a hoax.—
Rael Ombuor,
Washington Post,
27 May 2026
Noun
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Americans for Prosperity sponsored a striking display in the DECC’s Pioneer Hall, demonstrating the scale of the state’s fraud losses with faux $100 bills stacked in volumes that would total $2 billion.—
Jay Gabler,
Twin Cities,
30 May 2026
-
The authors then matched high-fraud ZIP codes to areas with fast-appreciating home prices.—
Tristan Bove,
Fortune,
29 May 2026
Verb
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The pair also forged AlHusseini’s bank and brokerage statements to inflate his assets by millions of dollars to help get the loans, prosecutors said.—
Andrea Klick,
Oc Register,
2 June 2026
-
David Halberstam, who announced Heat games on radio for six seasons and then forged a long career as a broadcasting executive and media critic, died this week after a long battle with brain cancer.—
Barry Jackson,
Miami Herald,
2 June 2026
Verb
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How might Infantino continue to profess neutrality while still clearly taking a side, pretending to listen to every voice while remaining obedient to only one?—
Chris Jones,
The Atlantic,
7 June 2026
-
Organizations that have spent decades pretending that the best way to find a new audience is to alienate your existing one are beginning to realize the cost of their folly.—
Philip Kennicott,
Washington Post,
7 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Fake.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fake. Accessed 9 Jun. 2026.
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