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not false or copied; genuine; real:
an authentic antique.
having the origin supported by unquestionable evidence; authenticated; verified:
an authentic document of the Middle Ages; an authentic work of the old master.
entitled to acceptance or belief because of agreement with known facts or experience; reliable; trustworthy:
an authentic report on poverty in Africa.
Law. executed with all due formalities:
an authentic deed.
Music.

(of a church mode) having a range extending from the final to the octave above.
Compare .
(of a cadence) consisting of a dominant harmony followed by a tonic.

Obsolete, .
Contemporary Examples

Snapshots are used to create a nostalgic, authentic feel, opening with Galon as a freckle-faced girl out of Huck Finn.
Meretz Appeals To Smart Secular Women Don Futterman January 16, 2013

By stepping outside myth, the show brought the expectation that it would be something new and authentic.
Jersey’s True-Life Tony Soprano: Meet the DeCavalcante Crime Family Michael Daly June 20, 2013

Is this the most authentic way to represent Italian cheese in a different country?
Elegy to Italian Cheese Jesse Dart May 20, 2011

Lucky Break pierces the superficial surface of acting to reveal the enthralling, authentic drama at the heart of the business.
This Week’s Hot Reads Lizzie Crocker November 8, 2011

They “don’t seem to have an authentic friend in their life because everyone around them is attached to them because of money.”
Drug Dealers to the Stars Christine Pelisek October 19, 2010

Historical Examples

So far we have authentic records to rely on; the remainder is pure conjecture.
Collections and Recollections George William Erskine Russell

If you happen to be unacquainted with its authentic history, so much the better.
Other Tales and Sketches Nathaniel Hawthorne

Be it our task, then, to jot down some authentic notices of that ancient, and now extinct monarchy.
Chambers’s Edinburgh Journal, No. 458 Various

They are additions to the stock of authentic Apician recipes.
Cooking and Dining in Imperial Rome Apicius

The figure representing Heloise is not, however, an authentic likeness.
Famous Affinities of History, Vol 1-4, Complete Lyndon Orr

adjective
of undisputed origin or authorship; genuine: an authentic signature
accurate in representation of the facts; trustworthy; reliable: an authentic account
(of a deed or other document) duly executed, any necessary legal formalities having been complied with
(music)

using period instruments and historically researched scores and playing techniques in an attempt to perform a piece as it would have been played at the time it was written
(in combination): an authentic-instrument performance

(music)

(of a mode as used in Gregorian chant) commencing on the final and ending an octave higher
(of a cadence) progressing from a dominant to a tonic chord

Compare plagal
adj.

mid-14c., “authoritative,” from Old French autentique (13c., Modern French authentique) “authentic; canonical,” and directly from Medieval Latin authenticus, from Greek authentikos “original, genuine, principal,” from authentes “one acting on one’s own authority,” from autos “self” (see auto-) + hentes “doer, being,” from PIE *sene- “to accomplish, achieve.” Sense of “entitled to acceptance as factual” is first recorded mid-14c.

Traditionally (at least since the 18c.), authentic implies that the contents of the thing in question correspond to the facts and are not fictitious; genuine implies that the reputed author is the real one; though this distinction is not etymological and is not always now recognized.