fake

/feɪ̯k/

fake adjective: not real; false, fraudulent.

Adjective

fake (comparative faker or more fake, superlative fakest or most fake)

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

authentic, genuine
(Of people) Insincere

Noun (1)

fake (plural fakes)

Something which is not genuine, or is presented fraudulently.
- I suspect this passport is a fake.
- 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...1922, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Coming of the Fairies
A move meant to deceive an opposing player, used for gaining advantage for example when dribbling an opponent.

Synonyms:

feint, deke
(archaic) A trick; a swindle.
An impostor.

Verb (1)

fake (third-person singular simple present fakes, present participle faking, simple past and past participle faked)

(transitive) To make a counterfeit, to counterfeit, to forge, to falsify.
(transitive) To make a false display of, to affect, to feign, to simulate.
- to fake a marriage
- to fake happiness
Synonyms:

pass off, pose
(archaic) To cheat; to swindle; to steal; to rob.
(archaic) To 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
(ambitransitive) To improvise, in jazz.
- Occasionally the opportunity arises to stand up and "fake" a jazz standard.1994, ITA Journal, volume 22, page 20
- 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)

Noun (2)

fake (plural fakes)

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

Verb (2)

fake (third-person singular simple present fakes, present participle faking, simple past and past participle faked)

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.

fake meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

fake in Hindi

something which is not genuine, or is presented fraudulently: नक़ल naqal

fake in Tamil

ஏமாற்று, ஏய்ப்பு, கள்ள, போலச் செய், போலி, போலிதட்தனம்

fake in Urdu

fake, imitated: نقلی naqlī
fake, counterfeit: جعلی ja'lī

More languagesFewer languages

fake in Bengali: জাল, জুয়াচুরি, জালিয়াতি, জালিয়াৎ
fake in Telugu: నకిలీ, నకిలీది, నకిలీవి
fake in Malayalam: കപട kapaṭa, കപടം kapaṭaṁ
fake in Kannada: ಖೋಟಾ, ನಕಲಿ, ಕೃತ್ರಿಮ ಪದಾರ್ಥ, ವಂಚಕ
fake in Punjabi: جعلی jaʻlī
fake in Odia: ନକଲି, ନକଲି କରିବା ପାଇଁ
fake in Sanskrit: असत् ásat
fake in Sinhala: ව්‍යාජ wyāja
fake in Arabic: مُزَيَّف muzayyaf
fake in Malay: palsu, bedek
fake in Indonesian: gadungan, palsu, tiruan
fake in Persian: جعلی ja'li, جعل ja'l, ماخ mâx
fake in Thai: ปลอม bplɔɔm, ของปลอม, ของเถื่อน, ปลอมแปลง
fake in Vietnamese: giả, nhái, làm giả, hàng giả

Examples of fake in a sentence

The pitcher faked a throw to first base.
“Fake” was one of Trump’s favourite slap-downs, especially to news outlets that reported unwelcome facts about him and his associates.2025 October 2, William Davies, “A critique of pure stupidity: understanding Trump 2.0”, in The Guardian:
Staddon of Goodmayes, a gentleman who had made a particular hobby of fakes in photography.1922, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Coming of the Fairies:
"She constantly faked being sick, and perhaps mistakenly, I indulged her more than I should have, pretending I couldn't tell.2013, Jocelyn Samara D., Rain, volume 1, →ISBN, page 193:

All 40 example sentences with fake

Synonyms of fake

25 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of fake

Forms of fake

Adjective
comparative	faker
comparative	more fake
superlative	fakest
superlative	most fake
Noun
plural	fakes
Verb
third-person singular present	fakes
present participle	faking
past participle	faked
past	faked

Past tense of fake: faked

Plural of fake: fakes

Origin of fake

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”).

Inherited from Middle English faken (“to coil a rope”).

Words formed from fake

Phrases with fake

2 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with fake

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about fake

What does fake mean?: Fake means not real; false, fraudulent.
What is fake in Hindi?: Fake in Hindi is नक़ल (naqal). See Fake meaning in Hindi.
How do you use fake in a sentence?: The pitcher faked a throw to first base.
What part of speech is fake?: Fake can be an adjective, a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce fake?: Fake is pronounced /feɪ̯k/.

Words near fake in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-fake.ogg.

Cite this entry: “fake.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fake. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.