genuine. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

genuine

SYLLABICATION:	gen·u·ine
PRONUNCIATION:	jny-n
ADJECTIVE:	1. Actually possessing the alleged or apparent attribute or character: genuine leather. 2. Not spurious or counterfeit; authentic. See synonyms at authentic. 3a. Honestly felt or experienced: genuine devotion. b. Actual; real: a genuine dilemma. 4. Free from hypocrisy or dishonesty; sincere. 5. Being of pure or original stock: a genuine Hawaiian.
ETYMOLOGY:	Latin genunus, natural, possibly from alteration of ingenuus, native, freeborn. See ingenuous.
OTHER FORMS:	genu·ine·ly —ADVERB genu·ine·ness —NOUN


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.