Phrase guide

for fake

prep_phrase · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

prep_phrase

Meaning 1

Not for real.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: humorous

Examples

  • 1990, Beverley Gasner, Girls at Lighthouse Point, Dutton, →ISBN, page 161, “ [...] and Justin just kept mumbling to him, ‘Go away, go away, I want to sleep.’” “For real?” “For fake is what I think. But I don’t know [...] ”
  • 2001, Niobia Bryant, Three Times a Lady, Kensington Books, →ISBN, page 283, “True,” Jordan said as he switched lanes effortlessly. “We’re staying in a renovated Victorian castle sitting on the edge of a lake.” “For real?” he asked, some interest now evident. “No, for fake,” Jordan joked. “Trust me, son. We’re gonna have fun.”
  • 2004, Debbie Gardner and Mike Gardner, Raising Kids Who Can Protect Themselves, McGraw-Hill Professional, →ISBN, page 64, Sometimes, young children have learned they can delay their bedtime by creating false monsters and ghosts for attention. [...] What the child learns besides delaying bedtime is, “It feels good to hide my eyes, get a big hug and lots of loving attention when I am afraid for real and for fake.”
  • 2006, John Lawton, A Little White Death, Atlantic Monthly Press, →ISBN, page 97, Head nodding gently, knees crossed, all but tapping his foot to the human rhythm as though the groans and moans of coitus – for real or for fake – were more a concert on the Third Programme than a Home Servicing.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: for real

History

Etymology

By analogy with for real.