counterfeit
US/ˈkaʊn.tɚˌfɪt/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
British/ˈkawntəˌfɪt/
counterfeit adjective: false, especially of money; intended to deceive or carry appearance of being genuine.
Adjective
counterfeit (not comparable)
- False, especially of money; intended to deceive or carry appearance of being genuine.
- This counterfeit watch looks like the real thing, but it broke a week after I bought it.
- Finding out Irish people might have been slaves is kind of like finding a counterfeit bill where you're like, "You think I can use this for something?"2023 October 28, Ryan Long, Irish Slaves
- Inauthentic.
- counterfeit sympathy
- How Cownterfet Cowntenaunce of the new get / With Crafty Conueyauance dothe smater and flater, / And Cloked Collucyoun is brought in to clater / With Courtely Abusyoun; […]1523, John Skelton, “A Ryght Delectable Tratyse vpon a Goodly Garlande or Chapelet of Laurell, […]”, in Alexander Dyce, editor, The Poetical Works of John Skelton: […], volume I, London: Thomas Rodd...
- Assuming the appearance of something; deceitful; hypocritical.
- an arrant counterfeit rascal1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
Noun
counterfeit (plural counterfeits)
- A non-genuine article; a fake.
- Never call a true piece of gold a counterfeit.c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- Some of these counterfeits are fabricated with such exquisite taste and skill, that it is the achievement of criticism to distinguish them from originals.1878, Thomas Babington Macaulay, “Francis Atterbury”, in Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition
- One who counterfeits; a counterfeiter.
- That which resembles another thing; a likeness; a portrait; a counterpart.
- Thou drawest a counterfeit / Best in all Athens.c. 1605–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- Even Nature's self envied the same, / And grudged to see the counterfeit should shame / The thing itself.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
- An impostor; a cheat.
- I fear thou art another counterfeit; / And yet, in faith, thou bear'st thee like a king.c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
Verb
counterfeit (third-person singular simple present counterfeits, present participle counterfeiting, simple past and past participle counterfeited)
- To falsely produce what appears to be official or valid; to produce a forged copy of.
- to counterfeit the signature of another, coins, notes, etc.
- To produce a faithful copy of.
- The title page of White's original album includes a descriptive title page that identifies the contents as “the pictures of sondry things collected and counterfeited according to the truth,"2008, Michael Gaudio, Engraving the savage: the New World and techniques of civilization, page xii
- To feign; to mimic.
- to counterfeit the voice of another person
- Full well they laughed with counterfeited glee / At all his jokes, for many a joke had he.1770, Oliver Goldsmith, The Village Schoolmaster
- Of a turn or river card, to invalidate a player's hand by making a better hand on the board.
counterfeit meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
counterfeit in Hindi
- intended to deceive or carry appearance of being genuine
- खोटा khoṭā, जाली jālī
- fake
- नक़ल naqal
counterfeit in Tamil
- எத்தர், கள்ளச் சரக்கு, கள்ளத் தனமான, போலி, போலியான
counterfeit in Marathi
- counterfeit, spurious
- खोटे khoṭe
counterfeit in Urdu
- intended to deceive or carry appearance of being genuine
- جعلی ja'alī
- fake
- جعلی ja'alī
- To produce something that appears to be official or valid
- جعلسازی ja'alsāzī, جعل سازی ja'al sāzī
More languagesFewer languages
- counterfeit in Bengali
- জাল jal, নকল nokol, কৃত্রিম kritrim
- counterfeit in Malayalam
- കളളമായ, കപടം, കള്ളനാണയം
- counterfeit in Kannada
- ಕೃತಕ, ಖೋಟ
- counterfeit in Gujarati
- નકલી naklī
- counterfeit in Sanskrit
- प्रातिरूपिक prātirūpika
- counterfeit in Nepali
- नक्कली nakkalī
- counterfeit in Tagalog
- huwad
- counterfeit in Malay
- tiruan
- counterfeit in Indonesian
- palsu, tiruan, memalsukan, meniru
- counterfeit in Persian
- جعلی ja'li
- counterfeit in Thai
- ปลอม bplɔɔm, เก๊ gée, จอมปลอม, ของปลอม
- counterfeit in Vietnamese
- giả, giả mạo
Examples of counterfeit in a sentence
- Be careful of the ticket touts outside the arena; they are famed for selling counterfeits.
- So popular in fact, that the funky clogs were subject to counterfeit “croc-offs.”
- They are also involved in cannabis dealing, vehicle theft, car rebirthing, currency counterfeiting and fraud.
Forms of counterfeit
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | counterfeits |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | counterfeits |
| present participle | counterfeiting |
| past participle | counterfeited |
| past | counterfeited |
Origin of counterfeit
From Middle English counterfeit, countrefet, from Anglo-Norman countrefait, from Old French contrefait, from Latin contra- (“against”) + Latin facere (“to make”). Piecewise doublet of contrafactum.
Words formed from counterfeit
Questions about counterfeit
- What does counterfeit mean?
- Counterfeit means false, especially of money; intended to deceive or carry appearance of being genuine.
- What is counterfeit in Hindi?
- Counterfeit in Hindi is खोटा (khoṭā), जाली (jālī), नक़ल (naqal). See Counterfeit meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is counterfeit?
- Counterfeit can be an adjective, a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce counterfeit?
- Counterfeit is pronounced /ˈkaʊn.tɚˌfɪt/ (US).
Words near counterfeit in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: counterfeit (page history and authors); counterfeit (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); खोटे (Marathi) (page history and authors); কৃত্রিম (Bengali) (page history and authors); counterfeit (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); counterfeit (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); નકલી (Gujarati) (page history and authors); नक्कली (Nepali) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-counterfit.wav.
Cite this entry: “counterfeit.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/counterfeit. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.