false

English Online Dictionary. What means false‎? What does false mean?

English

Etymology

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

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fɔːls/, /fɒls/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /fɔls/
  • (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /fɑls/
• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /fɒls/, [fɔɫs], [fɒʊs]
• Rhymes: -ɔːls, -ɒls

Adjective

false (comparative falser, superlative falsest)

1. Untrue, not factual, factually incorrect.
2. Based on factually incorrect premises.

   false legislation, false punishment

3. Spurious, artificial.

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

   a false conclusion;  a false construction in grammar
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.

Synonyms

• lease
• See also Thesaurus:false

Antonyms

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

Derived terms

Collocations

Translations

Verb

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

Adverb

false (comparative more false, superlative most false)

1. In a dishonest and disloyal way; falsely.

Noun

false (plural falses)

1. One of two options on a true-or-false test, that not representing true.

Anagrams

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

Galician

Verb

false

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

Italian

Pronunciation

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

Adjective

false f pl

1. feminine plural of falso

Latin

Adverb

falsē (comparative falsius, superlative falsissimē)

1. falsely, mistakenly

   Synonym: falsō

Noun

false

1. vocative singular of falsus

References

• “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.

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɑl.se/, [ˈfɑɫ.ze]

Noun

false

1. dative singular of fals

Adjective

false

1. inflection of fals:
   1. strong accusative feminine singular
   2. strong instrumental masculine/neuter singular
   3. strong nominative/accusative masculine/feminine plural
   4. weak nominative feminine/neuter singular
   5. weak accusative neuter singular

Portuguese

Verb

false

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

Spanish

Verb

false

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