fugazi
7 synonyms and 2 antonyms for fugazi, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Adjective — Fake, counterfeit or not what it claims to be.
Synonyms
Everyday swaps
Common words most readers know — safe in any writing.
Less common
Still standard English, but they carry more weight.
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
Synonyms by Meaning
1. adjective slang
Fake, counterfeit or not what it claims to be.
“The watch he was selling was fugazi.”
Opposites
How to use fugazi
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
American slang, strongly associated with crime films and Wall Street talk. It sounds knowing and a little theatrical rather than neutral.
Etymology
Origin unknown; a number of possibilities have been suggested: * One theory is that it is a corruption of French fougasse (“type of land mine”); flame fougasses were used extensively in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. * Less plausibly, it might be from English fugacious (“fleeting”) or cognates such as Italian fugace (“fl...
Full origin of fugazi →Frequently asked questions
What does fugazi mean?
It means fake or counterfeit. Calling an object fugazi says it is a forgery, and calling a situation fugazi says it is not what it appears to be.
Where does the word fugazi come from?
Its origin is genuinely uncertain. Several explanations circulate, including military slang and Italian American speech, but none is established, so the honest answer is that nobody knows.
Is fugazi the same as phoney?
They mean much the same thing, but fugazi is rarer and more colourful, and it usually describes objects or deals rather than people. Phoney is the neutral everyday word and applies equally to a person's manner.