counterfeit

¹coun·ter·feit

adj \ˈkau̇nt-ər-ˌfit\

Definition of COUNTERFEIT

1

: made in imitation of something else with intent to deceive : forged <counterfeit money>

2

a : insincere, feigned <counterfeit sympathy> b : imitation <counterfeit Georgian houses>

Examples of COUNTERFEIT

1. The concert ticket is counterfeit.
2. <counterfeit currency that had been passed all over town>

Origin of COUNTERFEIT

Middle English countrefet, from Anglo-French cuntrefeit, from past participle of cuntrefere, contrefaire to imitate, from cuntre- + faire to make, from Latin facere — more at do

First Known Use: 14th century

Related to COUNTERFEIT

Synonyms: bogus, fake, false, forged, inauthentic, phony (also phoney), queer, sham, snide, spurious, unauthentic

Antonyms: authentic, bona fide, genuine, real, unfaked

Related Words: artificial, factitious, imitation, man-made, mimic, mock, simulated, substitute, synthetic; dummy, nonfunctioning, ornamental; cultured, fabricated, manufactured; deceptive, delusive, misleading

Near Antonyms: natural; actual, true, valid

see all synonyms and antonyms

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Other Legal Terms

actionable, alienable, carceral, chattel, complicity, decedent, larceny, malfeasance, modus operandi

Rhymes with COUNTERFEIT

babysit, benefit, borrow pit, cable-knit, candlelit, come off it, cuckoo spit, double knit, get with it, hissy fit, holy writ, hypocrite, infield hit, intermit, intromit, manumit, megahit, mother wit, out of it, put to it, recommit, retrofit, step on it