1
as in fake
being such in appearance only and made or manufactured with the intention of committing fraud
counterfeit currency that had been passed all over town
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in double
not being or expressing what one appears to be or express
when it comes to the poor, his compassion is so counterfeit—he gives a damn, and that's all that he gives
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in hoax
an imitation that is passed off as genuine
the will as well as the other documents turned out to be counterfeits
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in to fake
to imitate or copy especially in order to deceive
an expert at counterfeiting money
Synonyms & Similar Words
2
as in to pretend
to present a false appearance of
managing to counterfeit a happy expression while visiting a sick friend
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of counterfeit
Julia Bonavita, FOXNews.com, 10 Apr. 2025
Deputies searched the truck and found five packages containing 350,000 counterfeit M-30 pills laced with fentanyl hidden within the gas tank, the release stated.
—Shambhavi Rimal, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 2 Apr. 2025
Francesca Krempa, StyleCaster, 10 Apr. 2025
Postal service inspectors have worked to uncover counterfeits for so long that the National Postal Museum hosted an entire exhibition this year on the topic of baseball memorabilia fraud.
—Michael Loria, USA Today, 8 Apr. 2025
Kaja Andric, New York Times, 13 Feb. 2025
Earlier this year, French, Italian, and Swiss police forces teamed up to bust a ring of wine fraudsters who were selling counterfeited Grand Cru wines (the premier designation of quality in French wine) for up to €15,000 a bottle.
—Chris Hall, WIRED, 18 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for counterfeit
Adjective
Vehicles are registered with a VIN number upon arriving in West Africa, but vehicle laundering hubs throughout the region offer scammers the opportunity to alter the identification number or purchase counterfeit registration paperwork.
—Julia Bonavita, FOXNews.com, 10 Apr. 2025
Deputies searched the truck and found five packages containing 350,000 counterfeit M-30 pills laced with fentanyl hidden within the gas tank, the release stated.
—Shambhavi Rimal, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 2 Apr. 2025
Noun
Some of the sellers, however, take creative liberties with intellectual property, which is where the ethics of dupe culture and counterfeits come in.
—Francesca Krempa, StyleCaster, 10 Apr. 2025
Postal service inspectors have worked to uncover counterfeits for so long that the National Postal Museum hosted an entire exhibition this year on the topic of baseball memorabilia fraud.
—Michael Loria, USA Today, 8 Apr. 2025
Verb
The state’s Department of Motor Vehicles regularly updates the design and security measures of its driver’s licenses to stay ahead of counterfeiting techniques.
—Kaja Andric, New York Times, 13 Feb. 2025
Earlier this year, French, Italian, and Swiss police forces teamed up to bust a ring of wine fraudsters who were selling counterfeited Grand Cru wines (the premier designation of quality in French wine) for up to €15,000 a bottle.
—Chris Hall, WIRED, 18 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for counterfeit
Recent Examples of Synonyms for counterfeit
Adjective
-
Later, it's revealed that Phelps didn't die at all, and his fake death was a setup to frame Ethan.—
EW.com,
EW.com,
24 May 2025
-
The fake kidnapping also cost the United States Social Security Administration more than $127,000, the Shasta County Sheriff's Office $148,866 and the FBI $2,558.—
Jessica Sager,
People.com,
23 May 2025
Adjective
-
As Spain’s only double Oscar-qualifying animation festival, Animayo’s top honors serve as a launchpad to the Academy Awards.—
Jamie Lang,
Variety,
29 May 2025
-
She was born in Massachusetts to Nigerian immigrants and, as a teen, was an exceptional figure skater: one who could land double axels with a practiced ease that betrayed the intense commitment behind them.—
Daron James,
Los Angeles Times,
29 May 2025
Noun
-
For every intentionally funny moment, there seems to be another joke at someone’s expense, such as Jets cornerback Antonio Cromartie needing 40 seconds to (mostly) name his eight kids or Rams defensive end William Hayes insisting dinosaurs are a hoax, but mermaids are real.—
Tim Graham,
New York Times,
22 May 2025
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For more on Sherri Papini's kidnapping hoax, subscribe now to PEOPLE, or pick up this week's issue, on newsstands Friday.—
Johnny Dodd,
People.com,
22 May 2025
Verb
-
In that role, Pullin forged new corporate partnerships.—
Kate Marijolovic,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
30 May 2025
-
The distinct domains of venture capital (VC), private equity (PE) and pure-play entrepreneurship are converging, forging a powerful new model for value creation in the post-artificial intelligence (AI) economy.—
Mitt Mehta,
Forbes.com,
29 May 2025
Verb
-
That’s the point of him; as the Mission: Impossible franchise’s secret agent extraordinaire, Hunt can pretend to be anyone, accomplish basically any physical task, and uncover conspiracies with aplomb.—
David Sims,
The Atlantic,
23 May 2025
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That old man was Trump—who had just been hospitalized with COVID-19, but was pretending that everything was fine—and yet the column was about America’s gerontocracy as a whole, and what Smith suggested was an unsustainable media omertà around it.—
Jon Allsop,
New Yorker,
23 May 2025
Adjective
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China also makes more large cast and forged products—including landing gear, engine components, brakes, turbine disks, and fan blades—than the next nine countries combined.—
MICHAEL BROWN,
Foreign Affairs,
22 Apr. 2025
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It is crafted from forged zinc and finished in matte black.—
Nora Colomer,
FOXNews.com,
17 Apr. 2025
Noun
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The Harry Potter series has sold more than 600 million copies worldwide, according to its U.S. publisher Scholastic, and has been on the New York Times Best Seller List for 843 weeks and counting.—
Matt Craig,
Forbes.com,
30 May 2025
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While training a frontier AI model is expensive, running additional copies of it is cheap, and the associated costs are rapidly getting cheaper.—
Luke Drago,
Time,
30 May 2025
Verb
-
What constitutes the crime is to phony up business accounting records to disguise the payments.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
22 Apr. 2024
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In fact, legislators and regulators are rolling back regulations designed to protect investors, who in this case are estimated to have lost $100 billion to phony Chinese firms.—
Gary Thompson,
Philly.com,
29 Mar. 2018
Cite this Entry
“Counterfeit.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/counterfeit. Accessed 3 Jun. 2025.
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