fake
adjectivenounverbnounverbcommon in dialogue
- //feɪ̯k//
Not real; false, fraudulent.
adjective
- 1
Not real; false, fraudulent.
Which fur coat looks fake?
Seeing Rossano Brazzi play an aristocratic White Russian, standing in the fakest snow that wartime supplies could buy, may be the most peculiar twist of all in the curious story of how Ayn Rand's autobiographical first novel came to the screen.
The truth panic had the unwelcome side-effect of emboldening those it sought to oppose. “Fake” was one of Trump’s favourite slap-downs, especially to news outlets that reported unwelcome facts about him and his associates. A booming Maga media further amplified the president’s lies and denials.
- 2
Insincere
Etymology
The origin is not known with certainty, although first attested in 1775 C.E. in British criminals' slang. It is probably from feak, feague (“to give a better appearance through artificial means, spruce up, embellish”), itself from German Low German fegen, from Middle Low German vēgen, from Old Saxon fegōn, from Proto-West Germanic *fegōn (“to clean up, polish”). Akin to Dutch veeg (“a swipe”), Dutch vegen (“to sweep, wipe”); German fegen (“to sweep, to polish”). Compare also Old English fācn (“deceit, fraud”). Perhaps related also to Old Norse fjúka (“to fade, vanquish, disappear”), Old Norse feikn (“strange, scary, unnatural”).
noun
- 1
Something which is not genuine, or is presented fraudulently.
I suspect this passport is a fake.
- 2
A move meant to deceive an opposing player, used for gaining advantage for example when dribbling an opponent.
- 3
archaicA trick; a swindle
- 4
An impostor
verb
- 1
To make a counterfeit, to counterfeit, to forge, to falsify.
- 2
To make a false display of, to affect, to feign, to simulate.
to fake a marriage
to fake happiness
to fake a smile
The pitcher faked a throw to first base.
- 3
archaicTo cheat; to swindle; to steal; to rob.
- 4
archaicTo modify fraudulently, so as to make an object appear better or other than it really is.
He had a hundred similar tricks, but I never knew him fake a horse, or sell one as sound if it was not.
- 5
To improvise, in jazz.
Occasionally the opportunity arises to stand up and "fake" a jazz standard.
In the face of this print music culture, 'faking' was the ability—at once respected and disrespected—to improvise a song (or a part in an arrangement) without reading the notation.
noun
- 1
One of the circles or windings of a cable or hawser, as it lies in a coil; a single turn or coil.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English faken (“to coil a rope”).
verb
- 1
To coil (a rope, line, or hawser), by winding alternately in opposite directions, in layers usually of zigzag or figure of eight form, to prevent twisting when running out.
Forms
- plural
- fakes
- comparative
- faker, more fake
- superlative
- fakest, most fake
- past tense
- faked
- past participle
- faked
- present participle
- faking
- third person singular
- fakes