Something that's fake isn't authentic. A person who falsely claims to be, feel, or do something can be said to be fake. When your friend acts sweet but spreads rumors about you behind your back, you can call her a fake. As a verb, fake means to take an action with the intent to deceive. fake noun [C] (COPY) something that is intended to look like and be mistaken for something else, esp. a copy made in order to deceive: 1. to create or render so as to mislead, deceive, or defraud others: to fake a report. 2. to pretend; feign: to fake illness. 3. to counterfeit: to fake a person's signature. 4. to accomplish by improvising. fake noun [C] (COPY) something that is intended to look like and be mistaken for something else, esp. a copy made in order to deceive: Some common synonyms of fake are counterfeit, fraud, humbug, imposture, and sham. While all these words mean a thing made to seem other than it is, fake implies an imitation of or substitution for the genuine but does not necessarily imply dishonesty. Note: “Deep fake ” describes an AI-generated video; a “cheap fake” typically involves real footage that has been manipulated or taken out of context, either with AI or other editing software. This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Fake. If an internal link incorrectly led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. What is a basic definition of fake? Fake describes something as not being real or as being an imitation that is designed to trick someone into thinking it is real or original. fake (third-person singular simple present fakes, present participle faking, simple past and past participle faked) (transitive) To make a counterfeit, to counterfeit, to forge, to falsify. The meaning of FAKE is not true, real, or genuine : counterfeit, sham. How to use fake in a sentence. Synonym Discussion of Fake.