phonies
Pretenders lacking authenticity
Phonies is the plural of phony—people who are fake, insincere, or pretending to be something they're not.
The word carries contempt for those perceived as putting on airs or lacking authenticity: The party was full of phonies trying to impress each other.
Famously central to Holden Caulfield's worldview in *The Catcher in the Rye*, where he sees phonies everywhere among adults.
Pretenders to authenticity
- pretendersThose falsely claiming something
- fraudsDeceptive acts or impostors
- charlatansPretenders to special knowledge
- poseursAffected pretenders
shams · hypocrites · deceivers · con artists · fakes · mountebanks · quacks · imposters
Deceptive outward show
- artificeClever deceptive strategy
- affectationArtificial behavior for effect
- disingenuousnessPretended ignorance or naivety
- hypocrisyPretense of virtue
falseness · hollowness · superficiality · fakery · two-facedness · insincerity · duplicity · facade
fakers
Pretenders to authenticity
- pretendersThose falsely claiming something
- fraudsDeceptive acts or impostors
- charlatansPretenders to special knowledge
poseurs · shams · hypocrites · deceivers · con artists · fakes · mountebanks · quacks · imposters · swindlers
pretense
Deceptive outward show
- artificeClever deceptive strategy
- affectationArtificial behavior for effect
- disingenuousnessPretended ignorance or naivety
hypocrisy · falseness · hollowness · superficiality · fakery · two-facedness · insincerity · duplicity · facade · front
- Scrabbletiles, board, rack, blank, triple word
- deceiversliar, liars, deceiver, fraud, fake
- show-offsbraggarts, boasters, showboats, grandstanders, egotists
- troublemakerstroublemaker, rascals, delinquents, imps, brats