sham

1 being such in appearance only and made with or manufactured from usually cheaper materials a sofa upholstered in sham leather Synonyms artificial, bogus, dummy, ersatz, factitious, fake, false, faux, imitative, man-made, mimic, mock, pretend, imitation, simulated, substitute, syntheticRelated Words cultured, manufactured, process; unauthentic; adulterated, designer, doctored, engineered, fudged, juggled, manipulated, tampered (with); concocted, fabricated; counterfeit, deceptive, forged, fraudulent, misleading, phony (also phoney); affected, brummagem, feigned, pinchbeck, pseudo, spuriousNear Antonyms authentic, bona fide, legitimate, true; premium, quality, valuable; pure, unadulteratedAntonyms genuine, natural, real

2 being such in appearance only and made or manufactured with the intention of committing fraud street vendors selling sham designer handbags to gullible tourists Synonyms bogus, fake, false, forged, inauthentic, phony (also phoney), queer, counterfeit, snide, spurious, unauthenticRelated Words artificial, factitious, imitation, man-made, mimic, mock, simulated, substitute, synthetic; dummy, nonfunctioning, ornamental; cultured, fabricated, manufactured; deceptive, delusive, misleadingNear Antonyms natural; actual, true, validAntonyms authentic, bona fide, genuine, real, unfaked

3 lacking in natural or spontaneous quality the sham friendliness of a salesman trying to sell you something Synonyms affected, assumed, bogus, contrived, factitious, fake, false, feigned, forced, mechanical, mock, phony (also phoney), plastic, pretended, pseudo, put-on, artificial, simulated, spurious, strained, unnaturalRelated Words automatic, canned, concocted, fabricated, hokey, labored, manufactured, pat, unauthentic, unreal, unrealistic; double-dealing, empty, facile, hollow, hypocritical, insincere, left-handed, mealy, mealymouthed, two-faced, unctuous; exaggerated, histrionic, melodramatic, overacted, overdone, theatrical (also theatric); cute, cutesy, genteel, goody-goody, mincing, overrefined, simpering; conventional, formal, impersonal, inflexible, rigid, stiff, stylized, wooden; artful, calculated, conscious, cultivated, deliberate, premeditated, studiedNear Antonyms authentic, bona fide, real, realistic, right, true; honest, ingenuous, sincere, unpretending; easy, effortless, smooth; extemporaneous, impromptu, impulsive, instinctive, unconscious, unprompted, unrehearsed, unstudiedAntonyms artless, genuine, natural, spontaneous, unaffected, uncontrived, unfeigned, unforced