bona fide
/ˈboʊnə.faɪd/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.96 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
adv
In good faith; genuinely, sincerely.
adj
In good faith; sincere; without deception or ulterior motive.
adj
Genuine; not counterfeit.
Example Sentences
- "But by the knots I am speaking of, may it please your reverences to believe, that I mean good, honest, devilish tight, hard knots, made bona fide, as Obadiah made his; […]"
- "Let thinking people, then, judge what must be the fate of a church, whose fundamental doctrines are disbelieved by men of sense and inquiry, whose articles are well known not to be subscribed bonâ fide by those who officiate in it […]."
- "Although he failed, the prime minister made a bona fide attempt to repair the nation's damaged economy."
- "It is impossible to say how far this adherence to a creed is a bona fide reversion to a devout habit of mind, and how far it is to be classed as a case of protective mimicry assumed for the purpose of an outward assimilation to canons of reputability borrowed from foreign ideals."
- "This is a bona fide Roman coin."
- "To Billy Byrne, then, Pesita was a real general, and Billy, himself, a bona fide captain."
Etymology
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈboʊnə.faɪd/
- British English: /ˌbəʊ.nəˈfaɪ.di/
Inflected Forms
bonâ fide (alternative, rare)
bona fyde (alternative, obsolete)