different between masquerade vs phony

English

Etymology

The noun is borrowed from Middle French mascarade, masquarade, masquerade (modern French mascarade (“masquerade, masque; farce”)), and its etymon Italian mascherata (“masquerade”), from maschera (“mask”) + -ata. Maschera is derived from Medieval Latin masca (“mask”): see further there. The English word is cognate with Late Latin masquarata, Portuguese mascarada, Spanish mascarada.

The verb is derived from the noun.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?mæsk???e?d/, /?mæsk???e?d/, /?m??s-/, /?m??s-/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?mæsk???e?d/, /?mæsk???e?d/
• Rhymes: -e?d
• Hyphenation: mas?que?rade

Noun

masquerade (plural masquerades) (also attributively)

1. An assembly or party of people wearing (usually elaborate or fanciful) masks and costumes, and amusing themselves with dancing, conversation, or other diversions.

   Synonym: (obsolete) masque
2. The act of wearing a mask or dressing up in a costume for, or as if for, a masquerade ball.
3. (figuratively) An act of living under false pretenses; a concealment of something by a false or unreal show; a disguise, a pretence; also, a pretentious display.
4. (figuratively) An assembly of varied, often fanciful, things.
5. (fandom slang) A cosplay event at which costumed attendees perform skits.
6. (obsolete) A dramatic performance by actors in masks; a mask or masque.
7. (obsolete, rare) A Spanish entertainment or military exercise in which squadrons of horses charge at each other, the riders fighting with bucklers and canes.

Alternative forms

• mascarade
• maskerade (archaic)

Derived terms

• masqueradish

Related terms

• mask
• masque
• masqueradingly

Translations

See also

• costume party

Verb

masquerade (third-person singular simple present masquerades, present participle masquerading, simple past and past participle masqueraded)

1. (intransitive) To take part in a masquerade; to assemble in masks and costumes; (loosely) to wear a disguise.
2. (intransitive, figuratively) To pass off as a different person or a person with qualities that one does not possess; also, to make a pretentious show of being what one is not.
3. (transitive, rare) To conceal (someone) with, or as if with, a mask; to disguise.

Derived terms

• masquerader
• masquerading (noun)

Translations

References

Further reading

• masquerade ball on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• masquerade (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

English

Alternative forms

• phoney (British)

Etymology

Perhaps an alteration of fawney (“gilt brass ring used by swindlers”) (1781), from Irish fáinne (“ring”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?fo?ni/
• Rhymes: -??ni

Adjective

phony (comparative phonier, superlative phoniest)

1. (informal) Fraudulent; fake; having a misleading appearance.

Synonyms

• (fraudulent): bogus, counterfeit, fake
• See also Thesaurus:fake

Antonyms

• authentic
• genuine

Derived terms

• phoniness
• phoneyness
• phony as a three-dollar bill

Translations

Noun

phony (plural phonies)

1. (informal) A person who assumes an identity or quality other than their own.

2. (informal) A person who professes beliefs or opinions that they do not hold.

3. (informal) Anything fraudulent or fake.
   • 2013, John E. Douglas, Ann W. Burgess, Allen G. Burgess, Crime Classification Manual (page 131)

     One name was a phony, but the other was the true name. The clerk remembered the man who had filed the tags since he acquired two sets of plates with different names.

Synonyms

• (faker): dissembler, pretender, fake, faker

Derived terms

• phony up, phoney up
• Phony War, Phoney War

Translations

Verb

phony (third-person singular simple present phonies, present participle phonying, simple past and past participle phonied)

1. To fake.

Anagrams

• hypno-