• IPA: /ˈkaʊn.tɚˌfɪt/

counterfeit (not comparable)

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.

   counterfeit sympathy

3. Assuming the appearance of something; deceitful; hypocritical.

   • RQ

• See also Thesaurus:fake

• French: contrefait
• German: gefälscht, nachgemacht, unecht, Falsch-
• Italian: contraffazione, falso
• Portuguese: falsificado
• Russian: подде́льный
• Spanish: contrahecho falsificado

• French: contrefait
• German: falsch
• Italian: contraffazione, falso
• Portuguese: falso
• Russian: подде́льный
• Spanish: contrahecho

counterfeit (plural counterfeits)

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.

   • 1878, Thomas Babington Macaulay, “[https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica,_Ninth_Edition/Francis_Atterbury Francis Atterbury]”, in Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition:

     16

   • 1971, Peter Brown, The World of Late Antiquity: AD 150—750, Thames & Hudson LTD (2013 reprint), ISBN 0393958035, page 53.

     ‘Revelation’, to a philosopher such as Plotinus, was not merely irrational: it led to second-rate counterfeits of traditional academic philosophical culture. It was as if the inhabitants of an underdeveloped country were to seek to catch up with western technology by claiming to have learnt nuclear physics through dreams and oracles.

2. One who counterfeits; a counterfeiter.
3. (obsolete) That which resembles another thing; a likeness; a portrait; a counterpart.
   • c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act 5, scene 1]:

     Thou drawest a counterfeit / Best in all Athens.

   • 1590 Edmund 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 4

     I fear thou art another counterfeit; / And yet, in faith, thou bear'st thee like a king.

• French: contrefaçon
• German: Fälschung
• Italian: contraffazione, falso, imitazione
• Portuguese: contrafação, falsificação
• Russian: подде́лка
• Spanish: contrahechura

counterfeit (counterfeits, present participle counterfeiting; past and past participle counterfeited)

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.
3. (transitive, obsolete) To feign; to mimic.

   to counterfeit the voice of another person

   • , Oliver Goldsmith, The Village Schoolmaster

     Full well they laughed with counterfeited glee / At all his jokes, for many a joke had he.

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. In Six Volumes, volume (please specify ), London: Printed by A[ndrew] Millar, […], OCLC 928184292 ↗:

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     I again conveyed his key into his pocket, and counterfeiting sleep—though I never once closed my eyes, lay in bed till after he arose and went to prayers—an exercise to which I had long been unaccustomed.

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.

• French: contrefaire
• German: fälschen
• Italian: contraffare, falsificare
• Portuguese: contrafazer, falsificar
• Russian: подде́лывать
• Spanish: falsificar, contrahacer