Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Conforming to fact and therefore worthy of trust, reliance, or belief.
  • adjective Being so in fact; not fraudulent or counterfeit.
  • adjective Law Executed in a manner so as to produce legal effectiveness.
  • adjective Of, relating to, or being a medieval mode having a range from its final tone to the octave above it.
  • adjective Of, relating to, or being a cadence with the dominant chord immediately preceding the tonic chord.
  • adjective Obsolete Authoritative.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Having authority; possessing inherent authority; duly authorized; authoritative.
  • Real; of genuine origin; being what it purports to be: opposed to pretended or imaginary, fictitious, counterfeit, apocryphal, or unauthorized: as, authentic documents.
  • In law, executed with all due formalities; executed by the proper person and legally attested before the proper authorities: as, an authentic deed.
  • Entitled to acceptance or belief; reliable; trustworthy; of established credit, credibility, or authority: as, an authentic tale, book, writer.
  • Original; first-hand, as opposed to copied or transcribed.
  • Own; proper; properly belonging to one's self.
  • In music, having an immediate relation to the key-note or tonic: in distinction from plagal, which has a corresponding relation to the fifth or dominant in the octave below the key-note.
  • noun An authoritative or genuine document or book.
  • noun An original, as opposed to a copy or transcript.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Having a genuine original or authority, in opposition to that which is false, fictitious, counterfeit, or apocryphal; being what it purports to be; genuine; not of doubtful origin; real.
  • adjective obsolete Authoritative.
  • adjective Of approved authority; true; trustworthy; credible
  • adjective (Law) Vested with all due formalities, and legally attested.
  • adjective (Mus.) Having as immediate relation to the tonic, in distinction from plagal, which has a correspondent relation to the dominant in the octave below the tonic.
  • noun obsolete An original (book or document).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of the same origin as claimed; genuine.
  • adjective Conforming to reality and therefore worthy of trust, reliance, or belief.
  • adjective obsolete Having authority.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective not counterfeit or copied
  • adjective conforming to fact and therefore worthy of belief

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English autentik, from Old French autentique, from Late Latin authenticus, from Greek authentikos, from authentēs, author.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French autentique (Modern French authentique) , from Latin authenticus, from Ancient Greek αὐθεντικός (authentikόs, "principal, genuine").

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Examples

  • The first one (a) is called a _perfect authentic cadence_, but the last two (c) and (d) are _imperfect authentic_.

    Music Notation and Terminology Karl Wilson Gehrkens 1928

  • The main purpose which I have had in view in writing this book has been to present an account of Greek philosophy which, within strict limits of brevity, shall be at once authentic and interesting -- _authentic_, as being based on the original works themselves, and not on any secondary sources; _interesting_, as presenting to the ordinary English reader, in language freed as far as possible from technicality and abstruseness, the great thoughts of the greatest men of antiquity on questions of permanent significance and value.

    A Short History of Greek Philosophy John Marshall 1880

  • "We have an issue with is using the term authentic aboriginal products to mean products made by non-aboriginal people overseas and the benefits going to those non-aboriginal companies," Shain Jackson of Spirit Works Limited said.

    CTV News RSS Feed 2010

  • "We don't use the word authentic," to describe the Olive Garden experience, Mr. Caron says.

    Waiter, I'll Have the Crowd-Pleaser Sarah Nassauer 2011

  • Schumer, whose faith in his sense of the authentic is absolute, is every bit as attuned to perceived Democratic elitism as Fox News is.

    The Man in the Middle 2009

  • The word "authentic" gets thrown around a lot, but it's hard to imagine a better application than what these guys pulled together.

    Rita Houston: Rita's Railroad Revival Rita Houston 2011

  • The word "authentic" gets thrown around a lot, but it's hard to imagine a better application than what these guys pulled together.

    Rita Houston: Rita's Railroad Revival Rita Houston 2011

  • Schumer, whose faith in his sense of the authentic is absolute, is every bit as attuned to perceived Democratic elitism as Fox News is.

    The Man in the Middle 2009

  • The word "authentic" gets thrown around a lot, but it's hard to imagine a better application than what these guys pulled together.

    Rita Houston: Rita's Railroad Revival Rita Houston 2011

  • The word "authentic" gets thrown around a lot, but it's hard to imagine a better application than what these guys pulled together.

    Rita Houston: Rita's Railroad Revival Rita Houston 2011

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