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humbug

noun

Synonyms and Antonyms of humbug

1 an imitation that is passed off as genuine

  • tests showed that the "old" map of America was a cleverly made humbug
Synonyms of humbug

counterfeit, fake, forgery, hoax, phony (also phoney), sham
Words Related to humbug

copycat, knockoff

copy, facsimile, replica, reproduction

dummy, mock-up

fraud, gaff, imposture, spoof, swindle

simulation, synthetic

bastard, brummagem, duffer, shoddy
Near Antonyms of humbug

original

2 language, behavior, or ideas that are absurd and contrary to good sense

  • those UFO stories are a lot of humbug
Synonyms of humbug

applesauce [slang], balderdash, baloney (also boloney), beans, bilge, blah (also blah-blah), blarney, blather, blatherskite, blither, bosh, bull [slang], bunk, bunkum (or buncombe), claptrap, codswallop [British], crapola [slang], crock, drivel, drool, fiddle, fiddle-faddle, fiddlesticks, flannel [British], flapdoodle, folderol (also falderal), folly, foolishness, fudge, garbage, guff, hogwash, hokeypokey, hokum, hoodoo, hooey, horsefeathers [slang], humbuggery, jazz, malarkey (also malarky), moonshine, muck, nerts [slang], nonsense, nuts, piffle, poppycock, punk, rot, rubbish, senselessness, silliness, slush, stupidity, taradiddle (or tarradiddle), tommyrot, tosh, trash, trumpery, twaddle
Words Related to humbug

absurdity, asininity, fatuity, foolery, idiocy, imbecility, inaneness, inanity, insanity, kookiness, lunacy

absurdness, craziness, madness, senselessness, witlessness

hoity-toity, monkey business, monkeyshine(s), shenanigan(s), tomfoolery

gas, hot air, rigmarole (also rigamarole)

double-talk, greek, hocus-pocus
Near Antonyms of humbug

levelheadedness, rationality, reasonability, reasonableness, sensibleness

common sense, horse sense, sense

discernment, judgment (or judgement), wisdom

3 one who makes false claims of identity or expertise

  • one humbug after another claimed to be the miraculously surviving daughter of the Russian czar
Synonyms of humbug

charlatan, fake, faker, fakir, fraud, hoaxer, impostor (or imposter), mountebank, phony (also phoney), pretender, quack, quacksalver, ringer, sham
Words Related to humbug

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 (or sharpy), skinner, swindler
Near Antonyms of humbug

ace, adept, authority, crackerjack (also crackajack), expert, maestro, master, past master, professional, virtuoso, whiz, wizard

Synonym Discussion of humbug

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

humbug

verb

Synonyms and Antonyms of humbug

to cause to believe what is untrue

  • humbugged into believing that the bones were the skeleton of a prehistoric human being
Synonyms of humbug

bamboozle, beguile, bluff, buffalo, burn, catch, con, cozen, deceive, delude, dupe, fake out, fool, gaff, gammon, gull, have, have on [chiefly British], hoax, hoodwink, hornswoggle, juggle, misguide, misinform, mislead, snooker, snow, spoof, string along, suck in, sucker, take in, trick
Words Related to humbug

kid, put on, tease

bleed, cheat, chisel, defraud, diddle, euchre, flam, fleece, gyp, hustle, mulct, rook, shortchange, skin, squeeze, stick, sting, swindle
Phrases Synonymous with humbug

do a number on, lead one down the garden path (also lead one up the garden path), pull one's leg, pull the wool over one's eyes
Near Antonyms of humbug

debunk, expose, reveal, show up, uncloak, uncover, unmask

disclose, divulge, tell, unveil

disabuse, disenchant, disillusion
Antonyms of humbug

undeceive

Learn More about humbug

  1. See words that rhyme with humbug Dictionary: Definition of humbug Spanish Central: Translation of humbug Nglish: Translation of humbug for Spanish speakers

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