# false

Pronunciation: say "FAWLS" US /fɔls/, UK /fɔːls/

## Adjective

1. Untrue; not in agreement with the established facts.
   - Simple: Not true, and not matching the facts.
   - _The witness's claim proved entirely false under cross-examination._
   - _Several figures in the published report were later shown to be false._
2. Artificial, fake, or not the real or permanent thing, made to imitate or stand in for it, as in false teeth or a false ceiling.
   - Simple: Not real but made to look real or fill in for the real thing, like false teeth.
   - _The antique cabinet hid valuables behind a false panel._
   - _The actor's false beard looked surprisingly convincing on stage._
3. Mistaken, unfounded, or based on wrong assumptions; giving a misleading or unreliable impression, as in 'a false sense of security'.
   - Simple: Wrong or not based on real facts, so it gives the wrong idea, like a false sense of safety.
   - _The new alarm system gave residents a false sense of security._
   - _Investors clung to false hopes long after the company began to fail._
4. In Boolean logic, denoting the truth value that represents a negative or untrue result.
   - Simple: In computer logic, one of two values, meaning 'no' or 'not true'.
   - _The condition evaluates to false when the input list is empty._
   - _A logical AND returns false if either operand is false._
6. Of a person: dishonest, deceitful, or disloyal; not true to one's word, friends, or obligations.
   - Simple: Of a person: not honest or loyal. Lying to or betraying others.
   - _She thought he was a loyal friend, but he proved false the moment money was involved._
   - _A false witness can ruin the life of an innocent person._
7. Forming part of a species' common name to mark it as resembling, but not actually being, the species it is named after.
   - Simple: Part of a plant or animal's common name, showing it looks like another kind but is not really that kind.
   - _The false morel mimics the edible true morel but carries a dangerous toxin._
   - _False indigo earned its name as a weaker stand-in for the plant that gives true indigo dye._
9. Out of tune; not at the correct pitch.
   - Simple: Not in tune, with notes that sound too high or too low.
   - _The old organ had gone false, with each rank sounding a fraction sharp._
   - _A single false string spoiled an otherwise careful performance._

## Noun

5. On a true-or-false test, the option indicating that a statement is not correct.
   - Simple: On a true-or-false test, the choice meaning something is not correct.
   - _On the quiz, the correct response to that item was false, not true._
   - _The student marked false for every statement she doubted._

## Adverb

8. In a way that is both dishonest and disloyal, betraying the trust someone has placed in you.
   - Simple: In a dishonest way that betrays someone's trust.
   - _Her own business partner had played her false, quietly selling the company's plans to a rival._
   - _Memory can play us false, so the detective checked every witness's story against the records._

## Verb

10. To wrongly decode noise as though it were a valid signal.
   - Simple: To wrongly read random noise as if it were a real signal.
   - _Receivers will false on strong interference if the threshold is set too low._
   - _The pager falsed repeatedly, treating atmospheric noise as incoming messages._

## Verb

11. To make something false; to corrupt it from what is true or real. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To change something true into something untrue and spoil it.
12. To counterfeit or forge something, such as coin, a document, or a seal. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To make a fake copy of something so as to cheat people.
13. To break or betray something pledged, such as a promise, an agreement, or one's faith. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To break a promise or betray a person's trust.

## Other meanings

- (verb) To begin a race before the starting signal is given; to make a false start.

## Origin

Latin falsus ("counterfeit, false"), the perfect passive participle of fallō ("to deceive"), gave Old English fals ("false, counterfeit, fraudulent, wrong"), which became Middle English false. Anglo-Norman and Old French fals, faus strengthened the word in Middle English. Faux is a doublet. The related verb comes from Latin falsō ("to falsify") by way of Old French falser.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/false (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).