"phony as a three-dollar bill" meaning in English

See phony as a three-dollar bill in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

Audio: En-au-phony as a three-dollar bill.ogg
Etymology: As three-dollar-bills do not exist. Head templates: {{en-adj|-}} phony as a three-dollar bill (not comparable)
  1. (simile, set phrase) Extremely phony; fake; dishonest; completely bogus. Tags: not-comparable Synonyms: bent as a nine-bob note, queer as a three-dollar bill, as fake as a two-dollar bill Translations (Translations): kiero kuin korkkiruuvi (Finnish), être faux comme un jeton (French), so falsch wie ein falscher Fünfziger (German), so falsch wie ein falscher Fuffziger (German), más falso que un duro sevillano [Spain, dated] (Spanish), más falso que un duro de madera [Spain, dated] (Spanish), más falso que Judas (Spanish)
{
  "etymology_text": "As three-dollar-bills do not exist.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "phony as a three-dollar bill (not comparable)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English similes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1978 July 2, Vincent Canby, “Film View”, in New York Times, retrieved 2018-01-23:",
          "text": "Though the film has some handsome, carefully staged action sequences, its machismo seems as phony as a three‐dollar bill.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011 September 29, Glenn Kessler, “The Fact Checker: A bogus chart on Obama and the debt gets a new lease on life”, in Washington Post, retrieved 2018-01-23:",
          "text": "But this chart, originally created by the office of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, is as phony as a three-dollar bill. Our friends at PolitiFact did a pretty thorough takedown of it in May, giving it their worst rating: “pants on fire.”",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Joan Elliott Pickart, The Marrying MacAllister, →ISBN:",
          "text": "\"You know, Mr. Sunshine, your laid-back, look-at-the-bright-side, the-glass-is-half-full malarkey is starting to come across as very condescending, especially since I know that your life-is-just-a-bowl-of-cherries spiel is as phony as a three-dollar bill.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Extremely phony; fake; dishonest; completely bogus."
      ],
      "id": "en-phony_as_a_three-dollar_bill-en-adj-64cOTZG5",
      "links": [
        [
          "set phrase",
          "set phrase"
        ],
        [
          "phony",
          "phony"
        ],
        [
          "fake",
          "fake"
        ],
        [
          "dishonest",
          "dishonest"
        ],
        [
          "bogus",
          "bogus"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "simile; set phrase; simile; set phrase",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(simile, set phrase) Extremely phony; fake; dishonest; completely bogus."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "bent as a nine-bob note"
        },
        {
          "word": "queer as a three-dollar bill"
        },
        {
          "word": "as fake as a two-dollar bill"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "kiero kuin korkkiruuvi"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "être faux comme un jeton"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "so falsch wie ein falscher Fünfziger"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "so falsch wie ein falscher Fuffziger"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "Spain",
            "dated"
          ],
          "word": "más falso que un duro sevillano"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "Spain",
            "dated"
          ],
          "word": "más falso que un duro de madera"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "más falso que Judas"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-phony as a three-dollar bill.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/35/En-au-phony_as_a_three-dollar_bill.ogg/En-au-phony_as_a_three-dollar_bill.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/En-au-phony_as_a_three-dollar_bill.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "phony as a three-dollar bill"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "As three-dollar-bills do not exist.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "phony as a three-dollar bill (not comparable)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English adjectives",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English similes",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English uncomparable adjectives",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with French translations",
        "Terms with German translations",
        "Terms with Spanish translations",
        "Translation table header lacks gloss"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1978 July 2, Vincent Canby, “Film View”, in New York Times, retrieved 2018-01-23:",
          "text": "Though the film has some handsome, carefully staged action sequences, its machismo seems as phony as a three‐dollar bill.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011 September 29, Glenn Kessler, “The Fact Checker: A bogus chart on Obama and the debt gets a new lease on life”, in Washington Post, retrieved 2018-01-23:",
          "text": "But this chart, originally created by the office of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, is as phony as a three-dollar bill. Our friends at PolitiFact did a pretty thorough takedown of it in May, giving it their worst rating: “pants on fire.”",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Joan Elliott Pickart, The Marrying MacAllister, →ISBN:",
          "text": "\"You know, Mr. Sunshine, your laid-back, look-at-the-bright-side, the-glass-is-half-full malarkey is starting to come across as very condescending, especially since I know that your life-is-just-a-bowl-of-cherries spiel is as phony as a three-dollar bill.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Extremely phony; fake; dishonest; completely bogus."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "set phrase",
          "set phrase"
        ],
        [
          "phony",
          "phony"
        ],
        [
          "fake",
          "fake"
        ],
        [
          "dishonest",
          "dishonest"
        ],
        [
          "bogus",
          "bogus"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "simile; set phrase; simile; set phrase",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(simile, set phrase) Extremely phony; fake; dishonest; completely bogus."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-phony as a three-dollar bill.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/35/En-au-phony_as_a_three-dollar_bill.ogg/En-au-phony_as_a_three-dollar_bill.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/En-au-phony_as_a_three-dollar_bill.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "bent as a nine-bob note"
    },
    {
      "word": "queer as a three-dollar bill"
    },
    {
      "word": "as fake as a two-dollar bill"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "kiero kuin korkkiruuvi"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "être faux comme un jeton"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "so falsch wie ein falscher Fünfziger"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "so falsch wie ein falscher Fuffziger"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "Spain",
        "dated"
      ],
      "word": "más falso que un duro sevillano"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "Spain",
        "dated"
      ],
      "word": "más falso que un duro de madera"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "más falso que Judas"
    }
  ],
  "word": "phony as a three-dollar bill"
}

Download raw JSONL data for phony as a three-dollar bill meaning in English (3.4kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (8a39820 and 4401a4c). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.