From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishauthenticau‧then‧tic /ɔːˈθentɪk $ ɒː-/ ●●○ adjective 1 REAL/NOT FALSE OR ARTIFICIALdone or made in the traditional or original way SYN genuine authentic French food► see thesaurus at genuine2 REAL/NOT FALSE OR ARTIFICIALa painting, document, book etc that is authentic has been proved to be by a particular person SYN genuine an authentic work by PicassoRegisterIn everyday English, people usually say that something is real or the real thing rather than authentic:This is real Indian cooking.How do you know if the picture is the real thing?3 REAL/NOT FALSE OR ARTIFICIALbased on facts an authentic account4 used to describe a copy that is the same as, or as good as, the original Actors dressed in authentic costumes re-enact the battle. —authentically /-kli/ adverb
Examples from the Corpus
authentic• an authentic account of the incident• What surprised and perplexed me was how authentic, and therefore how riveting, it turned out to be.• None of the New College group are chain-smoking or drinking coffee, but there is still an authentic atmosphere.• It's a combination of authentic Cantonese tastes and textures.• The builders are not using any nails in the construction, in an effort to build an authentic cultural centre.• DiMaggio was an authentic folk hero.• a friendly restaurant offering authentic Greek food• Korg seem to have done the impossible and produced a totally digital processor with some absolutely authentic guitar sounds.• an authentic Italian recipe for cannelloni• They play music on authentic medieval instruments.• That collection by itself was more important than all the authentic Modigliani drawings published during my father's life-time.• The dancers wore authentic Native American designs.• Like the ring of the bell there is an authentic note which differentiates these sentiments from emotionalism or sentimentality.• Today, children can give their own authentic period tea parties, too.• an authentic plaster statue by Michelangelo• an authentic Texas Rangers uniformOrigin authentic (1300-1400) Old French autentique, from Late Latin, from Greek authentikos, from authentes “person who did a particular thing” 