Fake
Look up fake in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.Fake means not real. For example, a document or other object created to look like a real object that exists or could exist, or a performance where an event is played, or untrue statements. Or a person who tries to be someone they're not by dressing and acting differently from their true selves.
Applications include:
fun, art, use as a toy
for example, a film or play shows fake events, where actors show fake emotions, and where fake objects are used
an insult used to describe a person who lies, pretends to be something they are not, does not have an opinion of their own or pretends to like things he or she does not
deception
a forgery (a false document or picture)
a counterfeit (of an object)
a decoy
the same purpose (partly or fully) as the real thing
meat analogue
imitation fur
artificial leather
fake gun: can be used to threaten, e.g. in a robbery; for this reason fake guns are often prohibited, unless clearly distinguishable from a real gun
Reasons for using a fake object instead of the real thing include:
the real thing does not exist, including:
a document trying to prove something which is not true
a fantasy object
a fake version of an object may be:
more easily available
less expensive
less dangerous (e.g. a toy weapon, or a weapon prop)
less heavy
not requiring to kill an animal (meat analogue, imitation fur)
legal while the real thing is illegal
not requiring a license
decoys of a military target either require the extra effort to distinguish them from the real thing or make destruction less efficient by the need to destruct the decoys too; decoys are less expensive than the real thing; especially for missiles it is also important that they are less heavy; also they may be inflatable and therefore before deployment have a small volume; in the case of arms limitation agreements an advantage is also that they typically are not limited.