variants
or phoney-baloney
as in fake
not being or expressing what one appears to be or express
if you believe the company's phony-baloney press releases, it's in business solely for the benefit of mankind
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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Recent Examples of phony-baloney
Namely, their own phony-baloney, six-figure jobs.
—
Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 20 Dec. 2025
The script is by David Koepp (writer of the best Mission: Impossible, the 1996 Brian De Palma iteration), and it’s filled with shimmery red herrings and liberal lashings of phony-baloney techno-spy stuff.
—Stephanie Zacharek, TIME, 6 Mar. 2025
Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 20 Dec. 2025
The script is by David Koepp (writer of the best Mission: Impossible, the 1996 Brian De Palma iteration), and it’s filled with shimmery red herrings and liberal lashings of phony-baloney techno-spy stuff.
—Stephanie Zacharek, TIME, 6 Mar. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for phony-baloney
Adjective
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The outcome is sure to spark strong reactions from Arizona Republicans who advanced the 2022 changes and several GOP legislators successfully invoked the law to defend themselves as fake electors from criminal prosecution by Mayes.—
Taylor Seely,
AZCentral.com,
27 Feb. 2026
-
Jonathan Holloway, founder of Pokémon card authentication and pre-grading company Validoe, told USA TODAY that fake cards are abundant in the market, so the authenticity of the cards should be ensured before grading, which often comes at a price.—
Kate Perez,
USA Today,
27 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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The cancerous tissue contained on average more than double the amount of plastic as healthy prostate tissue samples, the study found.—
Khloe Quill,
FOXNews.com,
1 Mar. 2026
-
Crucially, however, there is another view onto Bove’s sculpture beyond the double illusionism of its oblique materialism and front-facing near-pictorialism.—
Gordon Hughes,
Artforum,
1 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Now making promises is becoming meaningless.—
Brit McCandless Farmer,
CBS News,
28 Feb. 2026
-
Without a police presence, these changes are meaningless.—
U T Readers,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
27 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
New York, thanks to our state Constitution, forbids mid-decade redistricting, so a phony baloney lawsuit was ginned up to claim that the Staten Island/Brooklyn seat held by Malliotakis unfairly treats Black and Hispanic voters.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
23 Feb. 2026
-
Meyers allegedly hid behind phony profiles of an Arizona man, a female adult film star from the Netherlands, and an unidentified woman, the affidavit says.—
Brittany Kubicko,
NBC news,
20 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
The permanent observer of the 22-nation Arab League, Maged Abdelaziz, suggested Israel was being hypocritical in justifying its military attack by saying it was intended to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.—
Edith M. Lederer,
Fortune,
28 Feb. 2026
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A lot of the other complaints about Cluely seem similarly hypocritical.—
Sam Kriss,
Harpers Magazine,
24 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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On the opposite end of the spectrum, Tatianna points to cinnamon as a conductor of heat—one commonly used in lip plumper products to achieve a sultry pout.—
Essence,
Essence,
23 Nov. 2025
-
The pop of color offers a shimmer-free (rare!) means of warming up a wedding look and works equally well at lip level.—
Calin Van Paris,
Vogue,
12 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
Carvalho heavily promoted the artificial-intelligence chatbot, which was billed as helping with student absenteeism.—
Devoun Cetoute,
Miami Herald,
28 Feb. 2026
-
Three of the seven sugar substitutes involved in the study—erythritol, sorbitol, and xylitol—belong to a category known as sugar alcohols, artificial sweeteners that can be found in sweet treats like candy, ice cream, baked goods, and protein bars (and can cause digestive symptoms), for example.—
Caroline Tien,
SELF,
27 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
While traditional facelifts merely tighten the skin in a superficial manner, deep-plane procedures can now reorganize the underlying structure of the face, repositioning muscles, fat pads, and ligaments in a labile system of roving features.—
Patrick R. Crowley,
Artforum,
1 Mar. 2026
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Luckily, his wounds were only superficial.—
Emiliano Tahui Gómez,
Austin American Statesman,
1 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Phony-baloney.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/phony-baloney. Accessed 4 Mar. 2026.
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