| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| counterfeit |
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| SYLLABICATION: | coun·ter·feit |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  koun t r-f t |
| VERB: | Inflected forms: coun·ter·feit·ed, coun·ter·feit·ing, coun·ter·feits
| | TRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To make a copy of, usually with the intent to defraud; forge: counterfeits money. 2. To make a pretense of; feign: counterfeited interest in the story. | | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To carry on a deception; dissemble. 2. To make fraudulent copies of something valuable. | | ADJECTIVE: | 1. Made in imitation of what is genuine with the intent to defraud: a counterfeit dollar bill. 2. Simulated; feigned: a counterfeit illness. | | NOUN: | A fraudulent imitation or facsimile. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English countrefeten, from contrefet, made in imitation, from Old French contrefait, past participle of contrefaire, to counterfeit : contre-, counter- + faire, to make (from Latin facere; see dh - in Appendix I). | | OTHER FORMS: | counter·feiter —NOUN
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| 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. |
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