bona fide

See also: bonafide and bonâ fide

English

WOTD – 20 April 2007

Alternative forms

• bonâ fide (rare)
• bona fyde (obsolete)

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin bonā fidē (“in good faith”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌbəʊ.nəˈfaɪ.di/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈboʊnə.faɪd/, /ˌboʊnəˈfaɪdi/, /ˈbɑnə.faɪd/, /ˈboʊnəˌfiːdeɪ/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈboʊnə.faɪd/

• Audio (US):

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  Audio (US):

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• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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Usage notes

The pronunciation /ˈboʊnə.faɪd/ is the most common one in the USA and therefore listed first in American dictionaries, incl. American Heritage, Merriam-Webster, Webster's Third New International Dictionary, and the American version of Collins.

Adverb

bona fide (not comparable)

1. In good faith; genuinely, sincerely.

   Synonym: (nonstandard) bonafidely

   • 1761, [Laurence Sterne], chapter X, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume III, London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley […], →OCLC, pages 29–30:

     But by the knots I am speaking of, may it please your reverences to believe, that I mean good, honest, devilish tight, hard knots, made bona fide, as Obadiah made his; […]

   • 1791, Joseph Priestley, Letters to Burke, section XII:

     Let thinking people, then, judge what must be the fate of a church, whose fundamental doctrines are disbelieved by men of sense and inquiry, whose articles are well known not to be subscribed bonâ fide by those who officiate in it […] .

Translations

done in good faith; genuinely; sincerely

• German: auf Treu und Glauben, guten Glaubens, in gutem Glauben
• Hungarian: jóhiszeműen (hu)

Adjective

bona fide (not comparable)

1. In good faith; sincere; without deception or ulterior motive.

   Synonym: sincere

   Antonym: mala fide

   Although he failed, the prime minister made a bona fide attempt to repair the nation's damaged economy.

   • 1899, Thorstein Veblen, “Devout Observances”, in The Theory of the Leisure Class […] ‎^[1], New York: Macmillan, →OCLC:

     It is impossible to say how far this adherence to a creed is a bona fide reversion to a devout habit of mind, and how far it is to be classed as a case of protective mimicry assumed for the purpose of an outward assimilation to canons of reputability borrowed from foreign ideals.

2. Genuine; not counterfeit.

   Synonyms: authentic, genuine

   Antonyms: bogus, counterfeit

   This is a bona fide Roman coin.

   • 1914 October – 1916 July, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Mucker, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., published 31 October 1921, →OCLC:

     To Billy Byrne, then, Pesita was a real general, and Billy, himself, a bona fide captain.

   • 1955 June 30, “Ersatzes for Ersatzes”, in The Christian Science Monitor‎^[2], volume 47, number 182:

     What intrigues us is what will happen when the ersatzes for the ersatzes come along. Will characters start substituting for actors, bona fide dogs for barking ladies; will people start looking at people again instead of television and at nature instead of at documentaries?

   • 2000, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, O Brother, Where Art Thou?‎^[3]:

     Ulysses Everett McGill: I am the only daddy you got! I’m the damn pater familias!
     Wharvey Gal: But you ain’t bona fide!

Usage notes

Sometimes misspelled as *bonafied, by incorrectly analyzing as the past participle of assumed *bonafy.

Derived terms

• bonafidely

Translations

done in good faith

• Arabic: عن حسن نيَة
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 善意 (zh) (shànyì)

• Czech: bona fide, v dobrém úmyslu
• Danish: i god tro, bona fide (da)
• Dutch: oprecht (nl)
• Finnish: vilpitön (fi)
• French: de bonne foi (fr)
• German: glaubwürdig (de), ehrlich gemeint, glaubhaft (de), echt (de), auf Treu und Glauben (postpositioned), guten Glaubens (postpositioned), in gutem Glauben (postpositioned)
• Hungarian: jóhiszemű (hu)
• Icelandic: gerður í góðri trú
• Italian: in buona fede (it)
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 善意の (ja) (ぜんいの, zen'i-no)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: i god tro, bona fide

  Nynorsk: i god tru, bona fide

• Portuguese: em boa fé
• Russian: добросо́вестный (ru) (dobrosóvestnyj)
• Samoan: pona fite, i le lelei faʻatuatua
• Slovak: dobre myslený
• Spanish: de buena fe
• Turkish: iyi niyetle, samimiyetle (tr)
• Ukrainian: добросо́вісний (dobrosóvisnyj)

genuine — see also genuine

• Czech: pravý (cs)
• Dutch: echt (nl)
• Finnish: aito (fi)
• French: véritable (fr), authentique (fr)
• German: echt (de), authentisch (de), wahrhaftig (de), original (de)
• Hungarian: valódi (hu), igazi (hu)
• Icelandic: ósvikinn
• Italian: genuino (it), autentico (it)
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 本物の (ja) (ほんものの, honmono-no) , ^{(please verify)} 真実の (ja) (しんじつの, shinjitsu-no)
• Norwegian: ekte (no), autentisk
• Polish: prawdziwy (pl)
• Portuguese: genuíno (pt)
• Russian: настоя́щий (ru) (nastojáščij)
• Samoan: aoga
• Slovak: pravý
• Spanish: auténtico (es)
• Swedish: äkta (sv)

See also

• bona fides
• mala fide

Czech

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin bonā fidē (“in good faith”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbona ˈfɪdɛ]

Phrase

bona fide

1. bona fide (in good faith)

Further reading

• “bona fide”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “bona fide”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989