false

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”).

• (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)

• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /fɒls/, [fɔɫs], [fɒʊs]
• Rhymes: -ɔːls, -ɒls

false (comparative falser, superlative falsest)

1. 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.

2. Based on factually incorrect premises.

   false legislation, false punishment

3. 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.

4. (logic) Of a state in Boolean logic that indicates a negative result.
5. Uttering falsehood; dishonest or deceitful.

   a false witness

6. 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?

7. 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, […]

8. Not essential or permanent, as parts of a structure which are temporary or supplemental.
9. 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)

10. (music) Out of tune.

• lease
• See also Thesaurus:false

• (antonym(s) of “untrue”): real, true

false (third-person singular simple present falses, present participle falsing, simple past and past participle falsed)

1. (electronics, telecommunications, of a decoder) To incorrectly decode noise as if it were a valid signal.
2. (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.

3. (obsolete) To counterfeit, to forge.
4. (obsolete) To make false, to corrupt from something true or real.

false (comparative more false, superlative most false)

1. 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.

false (plural falses)

1. 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.

• A.S.L.E.F., Leafs, alefs, fasel, feals, fleas, leafs, lefsa

false

1. inflection of falsar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

• IPA^(key): /ˈfal.se/
• Rhymes: -alse
• Hyphenation: fàl‧se

false f pl

1. feminine plural of falso

falsē (comparative falsius, superlative falsissimē)

1. falsely, mistakenly

   Synonym: falsō

false

1. vocative singular of falsus

• “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.

false

1. inflection of falsar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

false

1. inflection of falsar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative