false
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle English false, fals, from Old English fals (“false; counterfeit; fraudulent; wrong; mistaken”), from Latin falsus (“counterfeit, false; falsehood”), perfect passive participle of fallō (“deceive”). Reinforced in Middle English by Anglo-Norman and Old French fals, faus. Compare Scots fals, false, Saterland Frisian falsk, German falsch, Dutch vals, Swedish and Danish falsk; all from Latin falsus. Displaced native Middle English les, lese, from Old English lēas (“false”); See lease, leasing. Doublet of faux.
The verb is from Middle English falsen, falsien, from Old French falser, from Latin falsō (“falsify”), itself also from falsus; compare French fausser (“to falsify, to distort”).
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /fɔːls/, /fɒls/
Audio (Received Pronunciation, /fɔːls/): (file)
- (General American) IPA(key): /fɔls/
- (cot–caught merger) IPA(key): /fɑls/
Audio (cot–caught merger): (file)
- (cot–caught merger) IPA(key): /fɑls/
- (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA(key): /fɒls/, [fɔɫs], [fɒʊs]
- Rhymes: -ɔːls, -ɒls
Adjective
[edit]false (comparative falser, superlative falsest)
- Untrue, not factual, factually incorrect.
- 1551, James A.H. Murray, editor, A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles: Founded Mainly on the Materials Collected by the Philological Society, volume 1, Oxford: Clarendon Press, published 1888, Part 1, page 217, column 2:
- Also the rule of false position, with dyuers examples not onely vulgar, but some appertaynyng to the rule of Algeber.
- Based on factually incorrect premises.
- false legislation, false punishment
- Spurious, artificial.
- false teeth
- 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “Silverside”, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 300:
- At her invitation he outlined for her the succeeding chapters with terse military accuracy; and what she liked best and best understood was avoidance of that false modesty which condescends, turning technicality into pabulum.
- (logic) Of a state in Boolean logic that indicates a negative result.
- Uttering falsehood; dishonest or deceitful.
- a false witness
- Not faithful or loyal, as to obligations, allegiance, vows, etc.; untrue; treacherous.
- a false friend, lover, or subject; false to promises
- 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 52, line 25:
- I to my ſelf was falſe, e’re thou to me, […]
- 1861, E. J. Guerin, Mountain Charley, page 7:
- She had been in Baton Rouge but a little over two weeks, when suddenly his letters ceased. She awaited in anxious suspense a whole week — no letter. Another week dragged heavily, and her anxiety became a terrible fear. Was he sick and unable to write — was he dead — or, still more terrible thought, had he proved false?
- Not well founded; not firm or trustworthy; erroneous.
- a false conclusion; a false construction in grammar
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 54, page 170:
- So downe he fell, as an huge rockie clift, / Whoſe falſe foundacion waues haue waſht away, […]
- Not essential or permanent, as parts of a structure which are temporary or supplemental.
- Used in the vernacular name of a species (or group of species) together with the name of another species to which it is similar in appearance.
- false scorpion (an arachnid)
- false killer whale (a dolphin)
- false powderpost beetles (members of Bostrichidae not in Lyctinae)
- (music) Out of tune.
Synonyms
[edit]- lease
- See also Thesaurus:false
Antonyms
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]- bear false witness
- false 9
- false acacia
- false action
- false alarm
- false albacore
- false alder
- false analogy
- false antechinus
- false arrest
- false attack
- false balance
- false banana
- false blue indigo
- false borrowing
- false bottom
- false buttonweed
- false chanterelle
- false cognate
- false colour
- false conception
- false consciousness
- false croup
- false dawn
- false dichotomy
- false dilemma
- false documentary
- false drop
- false easting
- false economy
- false equivalence
- false eyelashes
- false face
- false fire
- false-flag
- false flag
- false flagged
- false flagger
- false-flagger
- false flagging
- false flat
- false flax
- false friend
- false fruit
- false galena
- false gavial
- false gharial
- false grip
- false harmonic
- false-hearted
- false-heartedly
- false-heartedness
- false hellebore
- false hemp
- false hermaphrodite
- false holly
- falsehood
- false imprisonment
- false ironwort
- false keel
- false key
- false light
- false lily of the valley
- false loan
- false loose smut
- false mallow
- false map turtle
- false mastic
- false mayweed
- false measles
- false memory
- false-memory syndrome
- false memory syndrome
- false mermaid
- false modesty
- false monarch
- false morel
- false move
- falsen
- false negative
- falseness
- false nine
- false northing
- false note
- false number 9
- false oxlip
- false pimpernel
- false plane tree
- false plum anemone
- false positive
- false potato beetle
- false pregnancy
- false pretence
- false pretense
- false primary
- false quarter
- false Queen Anne's lace
- false rail
- false relation
- false rhubarb
- false rib
- false saber-toothed cat
- false sabre-toothed cat
- false sandalwood
- false scent
- false sergeant
- false sharing
- false shower
- false signal
- false start
- false step
- false strawberry
- false summit
- false tack
- false teeth
- false trevally
- false truffle
- false vacuum
- false vampire bat
- false venus comb
- false violet
- false violin spider
- false widow
- false witness
- false works
- falsie
- falsifiable
- falsify
- falsity
- feathery false lily of the valley
- partial false friend
- play someone false
- put someone in a false position
- ring false
- sail under false colors
- shrubby false buttonweed
- strike a false note
- true-false
- true or false
- true-or-false
Collocations
[edit]- false alarm
- false name
- false teeth
- false pretenses
- false step
- false position
- false hope
- false witness
- false prophet
- false sense
- false information
- false statement
- false imprisonment
- false impression
- false consciousness
- false start
- false belief
- false idea
- false conclusion
- completely false
- entirely false
- utterly false
- patently false
- totally false
- obviously false
- clearly false
- simply false
- absolutely false
- necessarily false
Translations
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Verb
[edit]false (third-person singular simple present falses, present participle falsing, simple past and past participle falsed)
- (electronics, telecommunications, of a decoder) To incorrectly decode noise as if it were a valid signal.
- (obsolete) To violate, to betray (a promise, an agreement, one’s faith, etc.).
- c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene ii:
- And he that could with giftes and promiſes,
Inueigle him that lead a thouſand horſe,
And make him falſe his faith vnto his King,
Will quickly win ſuch as be like himſelfe.
- (obsolete) To counterfeit, to forge.
- (obsolete) To make false, to corrupt from something true or real.
Adverb
[edit]false (comparative more false, superlative most false)
- In a dishonest and disloyal way; falsely.
- 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], page 17, column 2:
- Sweet Lord, you play me falſe.
Noun
[edit]false (plural falses)
- One of two options on a true-or-false test, that not representing true.
- The student received a failing grade for circling every true and false on her quiz.
Anagrams
[edit]Galician
[edit]Verb
[edit]false
- inflection of falsar:
Italian
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Adjective
[edit]false f pl
Latin
[edit]Adverb
[edit]falsē (comparative falsius, superlative falsissimē)
- falsely, mistakenly
- Synonym: falsō
Noun
[edit]false
References
[edit]- “false”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- false in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
- false in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
Portuguese
[edit]Verb
[edit]false
- inflection of falsar:
Spanish
[edit]Verb
[edit]false
- inflection of falsar:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms derived from Latin
- English doublets
- English terms derived from Old French
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɔːls
- Rhymes:English/ɔːls/1 syllable
- Rhymes:English/ɒls
- Rhymes:English/ɒls/1 syllable
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with collocations
- en:Logic
- en:Music
- English verbs
- en:Electronics
- en:Telecommunications
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English adverbs
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with usage examples
- Galician non-lemma forms
- Galician verb forms
- Italian 2-syllable words
- Italian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Italian/alse
- Rhymes:Italian/alse/2 syllables
- Italian non-lemma forms
- Italian adjective forms
- Latin lemmas
- Latin adverbs
- Latin non-lemma forms
- Latin noun forms
- Portuguese non-lemma forms
- Portuguese verb forms
- Spanish non-lemma forms
- Spanish verb forms