fake

comparative faker · comparative more fake · superlative fakest · superlative most fake

1. Not real; false, fraudulent.

   Which fur coat looks fake?

   2 more examples

   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.

   1988 November 25, Caryn James, “Ayn Rand Adaptation By Italian”, in The New York Times

   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.

   2025 October 2, William Davies, “A critique of pure stupidity: understanding Trump 2.0”, in The Guardian

   Antonyms: authentic, genuine

2. Of peopleInsincere

plural fakes

1. Something which is not genuine, or is presented fraudulently.

   I suspect this passport is a fake.

   1 more example

   Among other interesting and weighty opinions, which were in general agreement with our contentions, was one by Mr. H. A. Staddon of Goodmayes, a gentleman who had made a particular hobby of fakes in photography. His report is too long and too technical for inclusion, but, under the various headings of composition, dress, development, density, lighting, poise, texture, plate, atmosphere, focus, halation, he goes very completely into the evidence, coming to the final conclusion that when tried by all these tests the chances are not less than 80 per cent. in favour of authenticity.

   1922, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Coming of the Fairies

2. hobbiesA move meant to deceive an opposing player, used for gaining advantage for example when dribbling an opponent.

   Synonyms: feint, deke

3. archaicA trick; a swindle.
4. An impostor.

present singular third person fakes · participle present faking · participle past faked · past faked

1. transitiveTo make a counterfeit, to counterfeit, to forge, to falsify.
2. transitiveTo make a false display of, to affect, to feign, to simulate.

   to fake a smile

   4 more examples

   to fake a marriage

   to fake happiness

   The pitcher faked a throw to first base.

   "She constantly faked being sick, and perhaps mistakenly, I indulged her more than I should have, pretending I couldn't tell. But I AM a teacher myself, so it's kind of hard to just let this slide."

   2013, Jocelyn Samara D., Rain, volume 1, →ISBN, page 193

   Synonyms: pass off, pose

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.

   1944, George Henderson, The Farming Ladder

   Synonyms: adulterate

5. ambitransitiveentertainmentTo improvise, in jazz.

   Occasionally the opportunity arises to stand up and "fake" a jazz standard.

   1994, ITA Journal, volume 22, page 20

   1 more example

   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.

   Denning, cited in 2020, Matt Brennan, Kick It: A Social History of the Drum Kit (page 110)

plural fakes

1. nauticalOne of the circles or windings of a cable or hawser, as it lies in a coil; a single turn or coil.

present singular third person fakes · participle present faking · participle past faked · past faked

1. nauticalTo 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.