Counterfeit

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈkaÊŠn.tɚˌfɪt/
• Rhymes: -ɪt

Origin

Anglo-Norman countrefait, from Old French contrefait.

Full definition of counterfeit

Adjective

1. 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.
2. Inauthentic
3. Assuming the appearance of something; deceitful; hypocritical.
• Shakespearean arrant counterfeit rascal

Synonyms

Noun

1. A non-genuine article; a fake.
• c.1597 William Shakespeare, Henry IV part I, Act II, scene 4:Never call a true piece of gold a counterfeit.
• MacaulaySome of these counterfeits are fabricated with such exquisite taste and skill, that it is the achievement of criticism to distinguish them from originals.
2. One who counterfeits; a counterfeiter.
3. (obsolete) That which resembles another thing; a likeness; a portrait; a counterpart.
• William Shakespeare, Timon of AthensThou drawest a counterfeit
  Best in all Athens.
• 1590Edmund Spenser, Faerie Queene Book III, canto VIII:Even Nature's self envied the same,
  And grudged to see the counterfeit should shame
  The thing itself.
4. (obsolete) An impostor; a cheat.
• c.1597 William Shakespeare, Henry IV part I, Act V, scene 4I fear thou art another counterfeit;
  And yet, in faith, thou bear'st thee like a king.

Verb

1. (transitive) 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.
2. (transitive, obsolete) To produce a faithful copy of.
• 2008, Michael Gaudio, Engraving the savage: the New World and techniques of civilization‎, 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,"
3. (transitive, obsolete) To feign; to mimic.to counterfeit the voice of another person
• Oliver Goldsmith, The Village SchoolmasterFull well they laughed with counterfeited glee
  At all his jokes, for many a joke had he.
4. (transitive, poker, usually "be counterfeited") Of a turn or river card, to invalidate a player's hand by making a better hand on the board.