genuine article

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

The real thing, not a fake or imitation

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Điều thật sự, không phải giả mạo hoặc bắt chước

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: authentic item
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

This painting is the genuine article, not a reproduction

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “genuine article” mean?

The real thing, not a fake or imitation Literally: authentic item

Is “genuine article” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.