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View synonyms for bona fide

bona fide

or bona-fide

[ boh-nuh fahyd, bon-uh; boh-nuh fahy-dee ]

adjective

  1. made, done, presented, etc., in good faith; without deception or fraud:

    a bona fide statement of intent to sell.

    Synonyms: legal, lawful, sincere, honest

    Antonyms: deceitful

  2. a bona fide sample of Lincoln's handwriting.

    Synonyms: genuine

    Antonyms: false, spurious



bona fide

adjective

  1. real or genuine

    a bona fide manuscript

  2. undertaken in good faith

    a bona fide agreement



noun

  1. informal.
    a public house licensed to remain open after normal hours to serve bona fide travellers

bona fide

  1. Genuine: “The offer was a bona fide business opportunity: they really meant to carry it through.” From Latin , meaning “in good faith.”


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Usage Note

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Word History and Origins

Origin of bona fide1

First recorded in 1535–45; from Latin bonā fidē “in good faith, with good faith,” ablative singular of (nominative singular) bona fidēs; bona fides ( def )

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Word History and Origins

Origin of bona fide1

C16: from Latin

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Example Sentences

Another sent back a flat-screen television with a bona fide tombstone within.

The Facebook co-founder and his politically ambitious husband embodied all the attributes of a bona fide “gay power couple.”

A conservative coloring book publisher is out with a new title imagining the tea party heartthrob as a bona fide superhero.

Stephen Hawking is not only a bona fide genius, but also one of the most resilient men on the planet.

By the time the CFDA awards rolled round in early 1994, Moss was a bona fide star.

Nor can other creditors through filing objections to a claim prevent a bona fide claimant from voting.

The fact that you are here tells me that the wireless you got on the ship was not only bona fide but important.

Such relief was to be granted with due consideration and the bona fide intention of recovering.

If all that George Sand here says is bona fide, the letter proves that the rupture had not yet taken place.

It is not entered as second-class matter and it has probably no bona-fide circulation.

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