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counterfeit definition

counter·feit (ko̵unt′ər fit′)

adjective

  1. made in imitation of something genuine so as to deceive or defraud; forged counterfeit money
  2. pretended; sham; feigned counterfeit sorrow

Etymology: ME countrefete < OFr contrefait, pp. of contrefaire, to make in opposition, imitate < contre-, counter- + faire < L facere, to make, do

noun

    1. an imitation made to deceive; forgery
    2. something that so closely resembles something else as to mislead
  2. Obsolete an impostor; cheat

transitive verb, intransitive verb

  1. to make an imitation of (money, pictures, etc.), usually in order to deceive or defraud
  2. to pretend; feign
  3. to resemble (something) closely

Related Forms:

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Alternate definitions:

business counterfeit definition - business

law counterfeit definition - legal

counterfeit Synonyms

counterfeit

modif.

  1. Not genuine

    sham, forged, bogus, spurious; see artificial 1, false 3.

  2. Pretended

    assumed, pretentious, put-on; see affected 2, pretended. See syn. study at artificial, false.


counterfeit

v.

  1. To defraud by making copies of money, stamps, etc.

    forge, print money, copy money, copy stamps, make counterfeit money, falsify, coin, circulate bad money; see also forge 1, mint 1.

  2. To pretend

    simulate, feign, fake, delude; see pretend 1, simulate.


Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

counterfeit Usage Examples

Object

  • currency: Think of what happened as the government having legalized the right to counterfeit the national currency for private gain.

Converse of object

  • make: It only gains enough information from overhearing the conversation to make a magnetic stripe counterfeit.

Modifies a noun

  • banknote: Third, the Bank works closely with law enforcement agencies investigating counterfeit banknotes.

Modifying Another Word

  • not: They have the genuine anointing, the Spirit, he's real, not counterfeit like the false teachers ' offers.

Adjective complement

  • difficult: I guess such scheme would make the counterfeiting very difficult.

Used with adjective complement

  • sell: They had found Mr Frey selling counterfeit DVDs that included films that had only just gone on general release in the cinema.

Preposition: of

  • product: This success has brought with it a massive increase in the counterfeiting of Lacoste products.
counterfeit usage examples (more)

The word usage examples above have been gathered from various sources to reflect current and historical usage. They do not represent the opinions of YourDictionary.com.

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MLA Style

"counterfeit." Webster's New World College Dictionary. 2009

  • Your Dictionary. 5 July 2009
  • <www.yourdictionary.com/counterfeit>

APA Style

counterfeit. (2009). In Webster's New World College Dictionary

  • Retrieved July 5th, 2009, from www.yourdictionary.com/counterfeit

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