genuine

adjective

1)

a genuine Picasso

Syn:

authentic, real, actual, original, bona fide, true, veritable; attested, undisputed; informal the real McCoy, honest-to-goodness, honest-to-God, the real thing, kosher

Ant:

bogus

2)

a genuine person

Syn:

sincere, honest, truthful, straightforward, direct, frank, candid, open; artless, natural, unaffected; informal straight, upfront, on the level, on the up and up

Ant:

insincere

••

genuine, actual, authentic, bona fide, legitimate, veritable

A car salesperson might claim that the seats of that pricey sedan you're considering are made from genuine leather, a word that applies to anything that is really what it is claimed or represented to be. If you're in the market for a Model T Ford, however, you'll want to make sure that the car is authentic, which emphasizes formal proof or documentation that an object is what it is claimed to be. Use bona fide when sincerity is involved (a bona fide offer), and legitimate when you mean lawful or in accordance with established rules, principles, and standards (a legitimate business). Veritable implies correspondence with the truth but not necessarily a literal or strict correspondence with reality (a veritable supermarket for car-buyers). How will it feel to drive that Mercedes out of the showroom? You won't know until you're the actual owner of the car — a word that means existing in fact rather than in the imagination.