How to Use bona fides in a Sentence

bona fides

noun
Definition of bona fidesnext
  • Roots bona fides, goosed with rock zeal and a chip on the shoulder.
    — Matt Wake | Mwake@al.com, al, 20 June 2022
  • Abell said, touting the bona fides of his staff of about 20.
    — New York Times, 26 May 2018
  • The young man from Katy, Texas, is a bona fide marine star.
    — Meghan Overdeep, Southern Living, 19 June 2019
  • This November will test the Ravens' bona fides in much the same way.
    — Jonas Shaffer, baltimoresun.com, 18 Oct. 2020
  • Fox seemed to shore up its Trumpian bona fides after that.
    — Jeremy Barr, Washington Post, 30 July 2022
  • This week, Roseanne Barr—a bona fide racist—was outed, fired and hung out to dry.
    — Felice León, The Root, 1 June 2018
  • Hew might be a ghost kitchen, but its Thai bona fides are real.
    — Mike Sutter, San Antonio Express-News, 11 Feb. 2021
  • Williams is the last bona fide superstar left in the women’s draw.
    — Kevin Craft, The Atlantic, 3 Sep. 2019
  • The Colts have proven their bona fides as legit AFC contenders.
    — Scott Horner, The Indianapolis Star, 23 Dec. 2021
  • None of which has stopped her from becoming a bona fide icon in France.
    — Lauren Elkin, Harper's magazine, 25 Nov. 2019
  • Make a deal for Beal, and the Nuggets have not one bona fide all-star, but two in their starting lineup.
    — Mark Kiszla, The Denver Post, 9 July 2019
  • So the fact that anyone will soon be able to buy the legit version from Swatch is a bona fide big deal.
    — Tyler Watamanuk, GQ, 17 Apr. 2018
  • Fashion loves a first time, sure, but what made the show really one to watch were Blazy’s bona fides.
    — José Criales-Unzueta, Vogue, 16 Dec. 2022
  • It’s the tenuity of manhood that drives men to seek ways to prove their masculine bona fides.
    — Parker Molloy, Rolling Stone, 25 Apr. 2022
  • Ackley came to the job with slim social-justice bona fides.
    — Mark Obbie, Longreads, 10 Mar. 2020
  • Ahead, bona fide plant whisperers share the plants that deserve a spot in the most sacred space of all.
    — Erin Parker, Glamour, 3 Mar. 2020
  • By 1931, Byrd was a bona fide American hero, the first person (it was believed) to fly over both the North and the South poles.
    — John Kelly, Washington Post, 12 May 2018
  • And, acting bona fides aside, the payout was something else.
    — Tim Rohan, SI.com, 8 July 2019
  • The ratio of shoppers to bona fide employees is over 116 to 1.
    — Cyrus Farivar, Ars Technica, 18 Nov. 2018
  • Not to say that the original version didn’t have its own fashion bona fides, of course.
    — José Criales-Unzueta, Vogue, 3 Feb. 2023
  • Chrissie Hynde proved the bona fides of her Bob Dylan fandom decades ago.
    — Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 21 May 2021
  • Even then, if your roots are in the Greater Portland area, folks living in the vast part of the state that’s north of there might still question your bona fides.
    — Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 24 July 2022
  • As for Chanel, this isn’t the first time the French luxury house has sought to establish its green bona fides.
    — Kim Bhasin, Fortune, 11 June 2019
  • The Met Gala is one of the few nights of the year when fashion, beauty, art, and culture converge to make a bona fide moment.
    — Teen Vogue, 3 May 2019
  • In fact, the more Kingston leans into his heel bona fides, the more some fans will embrace an edgier Eddie.
    — Alfred Konuwa, Forbes, 14 Nov. 2021
  • Both Murkowski and Tshibaka boast of their Alaska bona fides.
    — Manu Raju and Alex Rogers, CNN, 4 Oct. 2021
  • Should the game become a bona fide hit, that could be key to sustaining this year’s stock rally.
    — Bloomberg News, The Denver Post, 9 June 2019
  • And if the allegiance to right-wing values were paramount, wouldn’t his pro-life bona fides count?
    — Elizabeth MacBride, Quartz, 7 Jan. 2020
  • Whether the young candidate’s progressive bona fides will hurt him in the runoff remains to be seen.
    — Joshua Fechter, San Antonio Express-News, 10 May 2021
  • Advertisement Even with his bona fides as a tastemaker, Williams has big shoes to fill in Abloh’s absence.
    — Anne Branigin, Washington Post, 14 Feb. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bona fides.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: