# bona fide

Pronunciation: US say "BOH-nuh-fyd" /ˈboʊnə.faɪd/; UK/AUS say "boh-nuh-FY-dee" /ˌbəʊ.nəˈfaɪ.di/

## Adjective

1. Genuine and truly what it is claimed or appears to be, not counterfeit.
   - Simple: Really what it seems or is said to be, not a fake or a copy.
   - _After a decade of bit parts, she is now a bona fide movie star._
   - _The auction house had the signature examined to confirm the manuscript was bona fide._
2. Sincere and in good faith, with no deception and no hidden motive behind it.
   - Simple: Honest and meant for real, with no trick or secret reason behind it.
   - _The court found that the tenant had acted on a bona fide belief that the lease was still valid._
   - _The union accused management of stalling instead of making a bona fide attempt to settle the dispute._

## Adverb

3. Genuinely and sincerely, in good faith, rather than as a pretense or for show.
   - Simple: In an honest way, really meaning what you do or say.
   - _The gallery insisted it had bought the painting bona fide, without any reason to suspect it was stolen._
   - _Few delegates believed the treaty had been signed bona fide by a government already preparing for war._

## Origin

Borrowed unchanged from the Latin phrase bonā fidē, meaning "in good faith."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/bona-fide (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).