made in imitation so as to be passed off fraudulently or deceptively as genuine; not genuine; forged: counterfeit dollar bills.
2.
pretended; unreal: counterfeit grief.
–noun
3.
an imitation intended to be passed off fraudulently or deceptively as genuine; forgery.
4.
Archaic. a copy.
5.
Archaic. a close likeness; portrait.
6.
Obsolete. impostor; pretender.
–verb (used with object)
7.
to make a counterfeit of; imitate fraudulently; forge.
8.
to resemble.
9.
to simulate.
–verb (used without object)
10.
to make counterfeits, as of money.
11.
to feign; dissemble.
Origin: 1250–1300; (adj.) ME countrefet false, forged < AF cuntrefet, OF contrefait, ptp. of conterfere to copy, imitate, equiv. to conter-counter-+ fere to make, do ≪ L facere (see fact); (v.) ME countrefeten, v. deriv. of countrefet
coun·ter·feit (koun'tər-fĭt') v.
coun·ter·feit·ed, coun·ter·feit·ing, coun·ter·feits
v.
tr.
To make a copy of, usually with the intent to defraud; forge: counterfeits money.
To make a pretense of; feign: counterfeited interest in the story.
v.
intr.
To carry on a deception; dissemble.
To make fraudulent copies of something valuable.
adj.
Made in imitation of what is genuine with the intent to defraud: a counterfeit dollar bill.
Simulated; feigned: a counterfeit illness.
n. A fraudulent imitation or facsimile.
[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 dhē- in Indo-European roots).] coun'ter·feit'er n.
[koun-ter-fit] 
