Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An untrue statement; a lie.
- n. The practice of lying.
- n. Lack of conformity to truth or fact; inaccuracy.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The fact or quality of being false; falseness; dishonest purpose or intention; treachery; deceitfulness; perfidy: opposed to truthfulness.
- n. That which is false; a false representation in word or deed; an untruth; a lie: as, the tale is a series of falsehoods; to act a falsehood.
- n. False manifestation or procedure; deceitful speech, action, or appearance; counterfeit; imposture; specifically, in law, a fraudulent imitation or suppression of truth to the prejudice of another.
- n. Synonyms Falsehood, Falseness, Falsity; untruth, fabrication, fiction. Instances may be quoted in abundance from old authors to show that the first three words are often strictly synonymous; but the modern tendency has been decidedly in favor of separating them, falsehood standing for the concrete thing, an intentional lie; falseness, for the quality of being guiltily false or treacherous: as, he is justly despised for his falseness to his oath; and falsity, for the quality of being false without blame: as, the falsity of reasoning.
Wiktionary
- n. uncountable The property of being false.
- n. countable A false statement, especially an intentional one; a lie
- n. archaic, rare Mendacity, deceitfulness; the trait of a person who is mendacious and deceitful.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Want of truth or accuracy; an untrue assertion or representation; error; misrepresentation; falsity.
- n. A deliberate intentional assertion of what is known to be untrue; a departure from moral integrity; a lie.
- n. Treachery; deceit; perfidy; unfaithfulness.
- n. A counterfeit; a false appearance; an imposture.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the act of rendering something false as by fraudulent changes (of documents or measures etc.) or counterfeiting
- n. a false statement
Etymologies
- From Middle English falshede, from false + -hede. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“That depends on what you call a falsehood," said Miss Blackburne.”
“SWBob says: cheney/rove/bush and their conservative talking heads have created an atmosphere in which truth be damned and any lie or falsehood is acceptable.”
“Their only plan is to bring down a person of prominence, They take pleasure in falsehood, They bless with their mouths, But inwardly they curse,”
“The same falsehood is rebuffed one day, and shows up on another op-ed page the next.”
“The fact that paper prominently published a falsehood is only the beginning of the problem.”
Sound Politics: Case Study: Why Conservatives Distrust the MSM
“For any statement about some X or other, all we do to establish its truth or falsehood is to employ reason and experience.”
“But when exposed to the light of the truth and reasoning, their falsehood is revealed.”
EXTRALIFE – By Scott Johnson - The Golden Compass: Lays a golden turd at the box office?
“The consciousness that the falsehood is part fact applies a salve to conscience and supplies a force lacking in the mere fib.”
“Shimas and said to him, O sage philosopher and experienced master, seest thou not that this ignorant lad cloth naught but redouble in falsehood to us?”
“Wazir said, O King, deal deliberately in the matter of thy son; for falsehood is as smoke and fact is built on base which shall not be broken; yea, and the light of sooth dispelleth the night of untruth.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘falsehood’.
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This is not a list
you know that thing where the Eskimos have 50 words for snow?
little white lie, big lie, the Big Lie, economical with t..., muddy the waters, fabrication, deception, lies, damned lies..., façade, slander, omission, web of lies and 159 more...
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Fubbery and Blaflum
An arcade of artifice and deception.
fubbery, blaflum, Drunken Fist, escamoterie, archdeceiver, legerdemain, prestidigitation, prestidigital, glaik, imposture, fraud, disguise and 78 more...
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Pants on fire
Synonyms and euphemisms for lie, liar, or lying.
disingenuous, equivocator, fabricator, fibber, maligner, prevaricator, hypocrite, mendacity, mendacious, fabulist, pantelones encend..., pinocchio and 16 more...
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Hoods
Inspired by comments over on muffinhood.
muffinhood, Robin Hood, maidenhood, knighthood, neighborhood, thiefhood, monkshood, childhood, manhood, little red riding..., falsehood, fatherhood and 71 more...
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Miscellany
avid, shard, begone, gibes, romantic, inspiration, dashing, affliction, daring, elocution, hegemony, supercalifragilis... and 97 more...
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Quaintnesses
For those who wish no words were ever forgotten
opprobrium, tedium, encomium, odium, ire, enmity, beguile, wile, brazen, popinjay, squit, hoity-toity and 1161 more...
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Not Quite The Real Thang
masquerade, sham, counterfeit, shyster, phoney, bogus, pseudo, artificial, fabricated, mock, concocted, false and 158 more...
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the name of the rose
pleasing words I encounter whilst reading umberto eco's novel of the same name.
matins, lauds, prime, terce, sext, nones, vespers, compline, usurper, simoniac, heresiarch, malefactor and 230 more...
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Spam Names
Interesting words that came to me in spam emails in the "From" field. Read in pairs by order added, add the initial of your choice, and you'll get a list of "names."
menominee, burbled, abrasives, barrister, unfortunates, strolls, appareled, uncles, removal, elusive, significance, described and 180 more...
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Wissavix's Words
fuck, cocksucker, floozie, wiggins, verbose, verboten, vixen, tiddlywinks, exsanguinate, exacerbate, ostentatious, flabbergasted and 54 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for falsehood.

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