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.

• (UK, General New Zealand, General Australian) IPA^(key): /fɔːls/, /fɒls/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /fɔls/, /fɑls/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Audio

  (file)

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:

     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, Robert William Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 24962326:

     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

   • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton

     I to myself was false, ere thou to me.

7. Not well founded; not firm or trustworthy; erroneous.

   a false conclusion;  a false construction in grammar

   • Edmund Spenser (c.1552–1599)

     whose false foundation waves have swept away

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

• lease
• See also Thesaurus:false

• (untrue): real, true

false (comparative more false, superlative most false)

1. Not truly; not honestly; falsely.
   • Shakespeare

     You play me false.

false (plural falses)

1. One of two options on a true-or-false test.

   The student received a failing grade for circling every true and false on her quiz.

• Leafs, alefs, fasel, feals, fleas, leafs, lefsa

false f pl

1. feminine plural of falso

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, 1883–1887)
• false in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

false

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of falsar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of falsar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of falsar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of falsar.