false
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]FromMiddle Englishfalse,fals,fromOld Englishfals(“false; counterfeit; fraudulent; wrong; mistaken”),fromLatinfalsus(“counterfeit, false; falsehood”),perfect passive participle offallō(“deceive”).Reinforced in Middle English byAnglo-NormanandOld Frenchfals,faus.CompareScotsfals,false,Saterland Frisianfalsk,Germanfalsch,Dutchvals,SwedishandDanishfalsk;all fromLatinfalsus.Displaced nativeMiddle Englishles,lese,fromOld Englishlēas(“false”);Seelease,leasing.Doubletoffaux.
The verb is fromMiddle Englishfalsen,falsien,fromOld Frenchfalser,fromLatinfalsō(“falsify”),itself also fromfalsus;compareFrenchfausser(“to falsify, to distort”).
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation)IPA(key):/fɔːls/,/fɒls/
Audio(Received Pronunciation,/fɔːls/): (file)
- (General American)IPA(key):/fɔls/
- (cot–caughtmerger)IPA(key):/fɑls/
Audio(cot–caughtmerger): (file)
- (cot–caughtmerger)IPA(key):/fɑls/
- (General Australian,New Zealand)IPA(key):/fɒls/,[fɔɫs],[fɒʊs]
- Rhymes:-ɔːls,-ɒls
Adjective
[edit]false(comparativefalser,superlativefalsest)
- Untrue,notfactual,factuallyincorrect.
- 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, published1888,Part 1,page217,column 2:
- Also the rule offalseposition, with dyuers examples not onely vulgar, but some appertaynyng to the rule of Algeber.
- Based onfactuallyincorrectpremises.
- falselegislation,falsepunishment
- Spurious,artificial.
- falseteeth
- 1907August,Robert W[illiam] Chambers,“Silverside”, inThe Younger Set,New York, N.Y.:D. Appleton & Company,→OCLC,page300:
- 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 thatfalsemodesty which condescends, turning technicality into pabulum.
- (logic)Of a state inBooleanlogicthat indicates a negative result.
- Utteringfalsehood;dishonestordeceitful.
- afalsewitness
- Notfaithfulorloyal,as toobligations,allegiance,vows,etc.;untrue;treacherous.
- afalsefriend, lover, or subject; falseto promises
- 1671,John Milton,“Samson Agonistes,[…].”,inParadise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes,London:[…]J[ohn]M[acock]for John Starkey[…],→OCLC,page52,line25:
- I to my ſelf wasfalſe,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 provedfalse?
- Not wellfounded;notfirmortrustworthy;erroneous.
- afalseconclusion; afalseconstruction in grammar
- 1590,Edmund Spenser,“Book I, Canto XI”, inThe Faerie Queene.[…],London:[…][John Wolfe] forWilliam Ponsonbie,→OCLC,stanza 54,page170:
- So downe he fell, as an huge rockie clift, / Whoſefalſefoundacion 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(anarachnid)
- false killer whale(a dolphin)
- false powderpost beetles(members ofBostrichidaenot inLyctinae)
- (music)Out of tune.
Synonyms
[edit]- lease
- See alsoThesaurus: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 atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Verb
[edit]false(third-person singular simple presentfalses,present participlefalsing,simple past and past participlefalsed)
- (electronics,telecommunications,of a decoder)To incorrectly decodenoiseas if it were a validsignal.
- (obsolete)Toviolate,tobetray(apromise,anagreement,one’sfaith,etc.).
- c.1587–1588,[Christopher Marlowe],Tamburlaine the Great.[…]The First Part[…],2nd edition, part 1, London:[…][R. Robinson for]Richard Iones,[…],published1592,→OCLC;reprinted asTamburlaine 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 himfalſehis faith vnto his King,
Will quickly win ſuch as be like himſelfe.
- (obsolete)Tocounterfeit,toforge.
- (obsolete)Tomakefalse, tocorruptfrom somethingtrueorreal.
Adverb
[edit]false(comparativemorefalse,superlativemostfalse)
- In a dishonest and disloyal way; falsely.
- 1610–1611(date written),William Shakespeare,“The Tempest”,inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies[…](First Folio), London:[…]Isaac Iaggard,andEd[ward]Blount,published1623,→OCLC,[Act V, scene ii],page17,column 2:
- Sweet Lord, you play mefalſe.
Noun
[edit]false(pluralfalses)
- One of two options on a true-or-false test, that not representing true.
- The student received a failing grade for circling every true andfalseon her quiz.
Anagrams
[edit]Galician
[edit]Verb
[edit]false
Italian
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Adjective
[edit]falsefpl
Latin
[edit]Adverb
[edit]falsē(comparativefalsius,superlativefalsissimē)
- falsely,mistakenly
- Synonym:falsō
Noun
[edit]false
References
[edit]- “false”,inCharlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879)A Latin Dictionary,Oxford: Clarendon Press
- falsein Charles du Fresne du Cange’sGlossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis(augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
- falseinGaffiot, Félix (1934)Dictionnaire illustré latin-français,Hachette.
Portuguese
[edit]Verb
[edit]false
Spanish
[edit]Verb
[edit]false
- 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