false

false adj 1 False, wrong mean not in conformity with what is true or right.

False in all of its senses is colored by its original implication of deceit; the implication of deceiving or of being deceived is strong when the term implies a contrariety between what is said, thought, or concluded and the facts or reality

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false statements

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thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor— Exod 20:16

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whether it is a genuine insight into the workings of his own mind or only a false explanation of them— Day Lewis

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you can take a chessboard as black squares on a white ground, or as white squares on a black ground, and neither conception is a false one— James

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An intent to deceive or a deceptive appearance is implied when the term connotes an opposition to what is real or genuine or authentic

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false tears

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false pearls

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a box with afalse bottom

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afalse arch is an architectural member which simulates an arch in appearance but does not have the structure or serve the function of a true arch

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The term is applied in vernacular names of plants to a kind related to, resembling, or having properties similar to another kind that commonly bears the unqualified vernacular

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the pinkster flower is sometimes called false honeysuckle

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Even when the word stresses faithlessness (see FAITHLESS) there is usually a hint of a deceptive appearance of faithfulness or loyalty or of self- deception in one's failure to be true

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so far as outward appearances went, one could not believe him to be a false friend

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Only in the sense of incorrect or erroneous

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a false note

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a false policy

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is this implication obscured, though there is often a suggestion of being deceived into believing that the thing so described is true or right.

Wrong, on the other hand, is colored in all of its senses by its original implication of wryness or crookedness; in general it implies a turning from the standard of what is true, right (especially morally right), or correct to its reverse. In comparison with false, wrong is simple and forthright in its meaning; thus, a wrong conception is one that is the reverse of the truth, but a false conception is not only wrong but the result of one's being deceived or of one's intent to deceive; a wrong answer to a question is merely an erroneous answer, but a false answer to a question is one that is both erroneous and lying; wrong principles of conduct are the reverse of ethically right principles, but false principles of conduct are not only wrong but are bound to lead astray those who accept them

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give a person wrong advice through bad judgment

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believed that a lie is always wrong

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there is something wrong about his appearance

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there is something false in his courtesy

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he may be wrong in his opinions, but he is not false to his country in trying to impress them upon others

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the book is a chic little piece . . . often amusing, always arch and clever, and usually wrong— Farrelly

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the man who, having out of sheer ignorance eaten the wrong end of his asparagus, was thenceforce compelled to declare that he preferred that end— Ellis

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Analogous words: *misleading, deceptive, delusive, delusory: fallacious, sophistical (see under FALLACY): mendacious, deceitful, *dishonest, untruthful: factitious (see ARTIFICIAL)

Antonyms: true

Contrasted words: *real, actual: veritable, *authentic, genuine, bona fide: veracious, truthful (see corresponding nouns at TRUTH)

2 perfidious, disloyal, traitorous, treacherous, *faithless

Analogous words: recreant, apostate, renegade, backsliding (see corresponding nouns at RENEGADE): inconstant, unstable: *crooked, devious

Antonyms: true

Contrasted words: staunch, steadfast, loyal, *faithful, constant, resolute