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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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
-
Police listed multiple flags to watch out for, including Irish and British accents, saying many of the members are part of international rings of foreign nationals using fake business names.—
Tim Fang,
CBS News,
6 Mar. 2026
-
However, the best part of this entire charade was not Devens hiding a fake idol at Tribal Council.—
Dalton Ross,
Entertainment Weekly,
5 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
The exterior is made of microfiber that’s been double-brushed for silky softness.—
Miles Walls,
Better Homes & Gardens,
8 Mar. 2026
-
Evan Wanner walked off the Class AA state championship in double overtime with a swift wrister past Jerdee, returning Moorhead to the summit of Minnesota high school hockey.—
Andrew Cornelius,
Twin Cities,
8 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
But that’s a dangerous game of both spring training numbers, which are largely meaningless, and small sample sizes.—
Sahadev Sharma,
New York Times,
9 Mar. 2026
-
What on Tuesday night looked like a largely meaningless game with only minor seeding implications at the conference tournament suddenly took on greater importance 24 hours later.—
Mark Zeigler,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
6 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
The movie makes no secret of its phony mechanics.—
Amy Nicholson,
Los Angeles Times,
4 Mar. 2026
-
In the cases before the Supreme Court as well as the wage case before Hall, there is no suggestion that lawyers intentionally buttressed their arguments with phony precedents in order to win an unfair advantage.—
Edmund H. Mahony,
Hartford Courant,
1 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
The tech entrepreneur, who founded a fitness app and a financial management platform catering to young and wealthy customers, also characterizes Khanna’s stock trading as hypocritical since the congressman campaigns on easing inequality.—
Bloomberg,
Mercury News,
3 Mar. 2026
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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
Adjective
-
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
-
Navarre Beach Marine Park is another local favorite, with picnic pavilions, dune walkovers, and access to near-shore artificial reefs for some underwater exploration.—
Carrie Honaker,
Travel + Leisure,
8 Mar. 2026
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Then, in June 2025, the mission captured its first photos of an artificial solar eclipse.—
Josh Dinner,
Space.com,
6 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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In her closing argument, Wanzenberg repeatedly noted that Mahdee received more than 40 stab wounds, and Vargas had three superficial cuts on his arm.—
Clifford Ward,
Chicago Tribune,
7 Mar. 2026
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But all the wounds were superficial.—
Sean Emery,
Oc Register,
5 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Phony-baloney.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/phony-baloney. Accessed 11 Mar. 2026.
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