How to use phony in a sentence
31 example sentences · adjective, noun, verb
Phony means fraudulent; fake; having a misleading appearance. Example: “A good jeweler should be able to tell a real stone from a phony one.”
Examples of phony by meaning
adjectiveFraudulent; fake; having a misleading appearance.
- A good jeweler should be able to tell a real stone from a phony one.
nounA person who assumes an identity or quality other than their own.
- He claims to be a doctor, but he's nothing but a fast-talking phony.
- You never saw so many phonies in all your life, everybody smoking their ears off and talking about the play so that everybody could hear and know how sharp they were.1951 July 16, J[erome] D[avid] Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC, page 164
nounA person who professes beliefs or opinions that they do not hold.
- He's such a phony, he doesn't believe half of what he says.
nounAnything fraudulent or fake.
- One name was a phony, but the other was the true name.2013, John E. Douglas, Ann W. Burgess, Allen G. Burgess, Crime Classification Manual, page 131
More sentences with phony
- This is an example of what magicians (and unfortunately phony psychics) call a "cold read".From the entry cold read
- “He works for the insurance company, protecting stores from phony claims.2020 November 22, Andy Bobrow & Lauren McGuire, “Mega Lo Memories: Part Deux” (5:07 from the start), in Bless the Harts, season 2, episode…. From the entry permaboner
- Phony cheese dip that someone sticks in a microwave and then they pour it on a tostito.2020, Theresa Rebeck, “The Nest”, in Lawrence Harbison, editor, The Best Men’s Monologues from New Plays, 2019 (The Applause Acting…. From the entry tostito
- They smile for the camera as they spew their phony message of tolerance, diversity and perversity.2006, Bill Bowman, Savage Lies, →ISBN. From the entry spew
- "Are the two of you going to stick to phony cybernames?2006, John Weir, What I did wrong. From the entry cybername
- They're in it up to their ears if they're phonying up a record of nonexistent checks.2000, Dana Stabenow, Midnight Come Again, →ISBN, page 237. From the entry phony up
- It can involve pictures, phone calls, social media profiles, text messages, e-mails and even phony friends or family members.2013 January 17, Mary Pilon, “In Te’o Story, Deception Ripped From the Screen”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original…. From the entry catfish
- But this chart, originally created by the office of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, is as phony as a three-dollar bill.2011 September 29, Glenn Kessler, “The Fact Checker: A bogus chart on Obama and the debt gets a new lease on life”, in Washington Post…. From the entry phony as a three-dollar bill
- He phonies up some documents, plants them with CBS, and doesn't say a word when the story breaks.2005 -, Case Wagenvoord, Open Letters to George W. Bush. From the entry phony up
- But the invocation of a phony myth of scienticism is not as worthwhile as the recollection of a genuine myth.1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London…. From the entry scienticism
- Though the film has some handsome, carefully staged action sequences, its machismo seems as phony as a three‐dollar bill.1978 July 2, Vincent Canby, “Film View”, in New York Times, retrieved 23 Jan 2018. From the entry phony as a three-dollar bill
- Some of the horses were registered under phony papers, their sires having been ruled off the track as doped or doctored.1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 230. From the entry attainder
- You and your smooth, big, phony stuffed-shirt of a father."1914, Samuel Hopkins Adams, chapter 30, in The Clarion. From the entry stuffed shirt
- My husband and daughter are Psych-Os, too — pineapple-spotting, catchphrase-spouting, fist-bumping fans of a crime-solving phony psychic named Shawn and his best friend, Gus.2014 March 30, Gere Goble, “All psyched out by favorite show’s ending”, in Sunday News Journal, page 1C. From the entry Psych-O
- The whole "weapons of mass destruction" concern was phony from the start, and the drama about inspections was just kabuki: going through the motions.2005 June 12, Michael Kinsley, “No Smoking Gun”, in The Washington Post, archived from the original on 12 Dec 2024. From the entry kabuki
- Most of the Rolex's out on the street are fugazy's." He used the street term for phony jewelry, but Mike knew exactly what he meant.2003, Jeff Kaye, chapter 7, in Two Faces Have I, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 55. From the entry fugazi
- For tax evaders and those playing the angles, a network of accountants, lawyers and bankers is ready to set up shell companies and phony trusts to hide behind.2012 February 13, Connie Cass, “At least your money can live like a millionaire's”, in Businessweek, retrieved 01 Mar 2014. From the entry play the angles
- Even though Mother grated on my last nerve with her phony pretense, I had to give her credit, she knew how to throw a hellafied party.2010, Trice Hickman, Playing the Hand You're Dealt: A Novel, Washington, D.C.: Platinum Books, Inc., →ISBN, page 209. From the entry hellified
- They did so to conceal the fact that they were playing with Monopoly money—fabricating profits as phony as the pastel-colored money used in the classic Parker Brothers board game.2005, Craig M. Boise, Playing with ‘Monopoly Money’: Phony Profits, Fraud Penalties and Equity, Minnesota Law Review, volume 90, page 144. From the entry Monopoly money
- Honda Motor Co. is the latest victim of e-mail perfidy, which started when a phony chain letter promised that the automaker would give away free cars.2000 July 17, “Honda becomes chain letter victim”, in eWeek. From the entry perfidy
- We have observed at least four different types of behaviors, which tend to maintain the impostor phenomenon once the posture of being an intellectual phony has been assumed.1978, Pauline Rose Clance, Suzanne Imes, “The Imposter Phenomenon in High Achieving Women Dynamics and Therapeutic Intervention”, in…. From the entry impostor phenomenon
- The sources described the natty Pomeranz as a fast talker but "a phony" and "a real busted valise" whose checks had a strong elastic snap to them.1962 July 26, Edward Kirkman, Henry Lee, “DA Fears Gang's X Will Mark The Spot For Mr. X's Rubout”, in Daily News, New York, page 4. From the entry busted valise
- Pig butchers most often begin by creating a phony online persona, typically accompanied by an alluring photo (which itself might have been stolen) and images that convey a glamorous lifestyle.2022 September 19, Cezary Podkul, “What's a Pig Butchering Scam? Here's How to Avoid Falling Victim to One.”, in ProPublica. From the entry pig butcher
- The show boating, head games, phony fronts and near literal spider's webs tossed out as glistening and beautiful nets to capture the prize or the perceived prize always amazed me.2013, Sereena Nightshade, Black Market, →ISBN, page 226. From the entry head game
- Every time we get close to passing reform, the insurance companies produce these phony studies as a prescription and say, "Take one of these, and call us in a decade."2009 October 17, Barack Obama, Weekly Address: Taking the Insurance Companies on Down the Stretch. From the entry smoke and mirrors
- Like children fascinated by the phony superjumps of stunt men in Chinese boxing pictures, many executives see only the violence on the surface and are incapable of looking beyond it.1974, Alex Ben Block, The Legend of Bruce Lee, Mayflower, →ISBN, page 163. From the entry superjump
Meaning of phony
- adjective Fraudulent; fake; having a misleading appearance.
- noun A person who assumes an identity or quality other than their own.
- noun A person who professes beliefs or opinions that they do not hold.
Questions about phony in a sentence
- How do you use phony in a sentence?
- Phony is used as an adjective, noun and verb. For example: “A good jeweler should be able to tell a real stone from a phony one.”
- What is a short sentence with phony?
- “You and your smooth, big, phony stuffed-shirt of a father."”
- What does phony mean?
- Phony means fraudulent; fake; having a misleading appearance.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: phony (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “How to use phony in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/phony. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
