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Definition of "authentic" []

  • Conforming to fact and therefore worthy of trust, reliance, or belief: an authentic account by an eyewitness. (adjective)
  • Having a claimed and verifiable origin or authorship; not counterfeit or copied: an authentic medieval sword. (adjective)
  • Law Executed with due process: an authentic deed. (adjective)
  • Music Of, relating to, or being a medieval mode having a range from its final tone to the octave above it. (adjective)
  • Music Of, relating to, or being a cadence with the dominant chord immediately preceding the tonic chord. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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