Definitions

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

  • adjective Actually possessing the alleged or apparent attribute or character.
  • adjective Not spurious or counterfeit; authentic: synonym: authentic.
  • adjective Honestly felt or experienced.
  • adjective Actual; real.
  • adjective Free from hypocrisy or dishonesty; sincere.
  • adjective Being of pure or original stock.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Belonging to the original stock; corresponding to an original type or source; hence, not spurious, false, or adulterated; not of a deceptive or affected character; true; real; sincere: applied to both persons and things: as, genuine descendants; genuine materials; a genuine text; a genuine man.
  • In zoology, typical; conformable to type; not aberrant: as, the genuine isopods. See Euisopoda.

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

  • adjective Belonging to, or proceeding from, the original stock; native

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

  • adjective Belonging to, or proceeding from the original stock; native; hence, not counterfeit, spurious, false, or adulterated; authentic; real; natural; true; pure.

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

  • adjective not pretended; sincerely felt or expressed
  • adjective being or reflecting the essential or genuine character of something
  • adjective not fake or counterfeit

Etymologies

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

[Latin genuīnus, natural, possibly from alteration of ingenuus, native, freeborn; see ingenuous.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin genuinus ("innate, native, natural"), from gignere, from Old Latin genere ("to beget, produce"); see genus; or genu ("knee").

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Examples

  • This is why we prefer the term genuine to authentic--it allows for many interpretations while still remaining true to tradition.

    Kurt Michael Friese: Chasing Chiles: Xnipec - A Touch of the Dogs Nose Kurt Michael Friese 2011

  • A few posts ago I asked what I called a genuine question about Islam's view on heroin, given the fact that the poppy is a staple crop in Afghanistan.

    A Genuine Answer Bystander 2008

  • Weber himself not only a great writer, but he's just a great guy, in fact his whole family are what I call genuine people.

    Calling Your Attention to a Cool Book! Zillabob 2008

  • Weber himself not only a great writer, but he's just a great guy, in fact his whole family are what I call genuine people.

    Archive 2008-09-01 Zillabob 2008

  • The Dalai Lama has said since 1979 that he has stepped back from the demand of independence and that he wants for the Tibetan people what they call genuine autonomy.

    CNN Transcript Mar 18, 2008 2008

  • A few posts ago I asked what I called a genuine question about Islam's view on heroin, given the fact that the poppy is a staple crop in Afghanistan.

    Archive 2008-07-01 Bystander 2008

  • He appealed to council officials not to simplify what he termed genuine and realistic demands of those in the township situation where socio-economic conditions were terrible.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1998

  • "Well now that's what I call a genuine fact, the sort I was talking about," Mr. Flack replied.

    The Reverberator Henry James 1879

  • Let me see: it's a long time since I have had what I call a genuine holiday; I'll send an excuse tomorrow to the office.

    The Wrong Box Robert Louis Stevenson 1872

  • Peace with the rebels, most of whom demand autonomy under what they call a "genuine federal system", has been set by the United States and the European Union as a condition for lifting sanctions on the former Burma, an underdeveloped but resource-rich country that has wilted under international isolation and inept army rule.

    Reuters: Press Release 2012

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