falsehood

American  

[fawls-hood] / ˈfɔls hʊd /

noun

1. a false statement; lie.

   Synonyms:

   story, fiction, invention, canard, falsification, prevarication, fabrication

2. something false; an untrue idea, belief, etc..

   The Nazis propagated the falsehood of racial superiority.

3. the act of lying or making false statements.

4. lack of conformity to truth or fact.

   Synonyms:

   mendacity, inveracity, untruthfulness

5. Obsolete. deception.

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falsehood British  

/ ˈfɔːlsˌhʊd /

noun

1. the quality of being untrue

2. an untrue statement; lie

3. the act of deceiving or lying

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Synonym Usage

Falsehood, fib, lie, untruth refer to something untrue or incorrect. A falsehood is a statement that distorts or suppresses the truth, in order to deceive: to tell a falsehood about one's ancestry in order to gain acceptance. A fib denotes a trivial falsehood, and is often used to characterize that which is not strictly true: a polite fib. A lie is a vicious falsehood: to tell a lie about one's neighbor. An untruth is an incorrect statement, either intentionally misleading (less harsh, however, than falsehood or lie) or arising from misunderstanding or ignorance: I'm afraid you are telling an untruth.

Etymology

Origin of falsehood

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English falsehead, falshede; see origin at false, -hood

Explanation

A falsehood is a lie. If your mom has an uncanny knack for knowing when you're telling a falsehood, it means she always knows when you're stretching the truth. The noun falsehood is a slightly fancy or old-fashioned way of saying "lie." It's hard to ever completely trust a friend again once he's told you a falsehood, although sometimes people tell small falsehoods simply to make others feel better. Telling your aunt her pink hair looks fine is a small falsehood, while lying about your grades on a college application is a pretty big falsehood. The Latin root is falsus, "deceived or erroneous."

Example Sentences

That's the thesis of a recent paper called "The Evolutionary Psychology of Conflict and the Functions of Falsehood" by the Danish political scientists Michael Bang Petersen and Mathias Osmundsen and American anthropologist John Tooby.

From Salon • Aug. 8, 2021

Michiko Kakutani is the author of “The Death of Truth: Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump,” released in paperback last month.

From New York Times • Sep. 3, 2019

Falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it.

From Washington Post • Feb. 9, 2018

That's when a top-flight Shakespeare scholar and middling playwright named Lewis Theobald supposedly re-adapted and "improved" "Cardenio" into "Double Falsehood."

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 14, 2016

The stings of Falsehood those shall try And hard Unkindness' alter'd eye, That mocks the tear it forced to flow; And keen Remorse with blood defiled, And moody Madness laughing wild Amid severest woe.

From The Golden Treasury Selected from the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language and arranged with Notes by Various

Related Words

• cover-up
• deceit
• deception
• dishonesty
• distortion
• fabrication
• fakery
• fallacy
• falsity
• misstatement
• perjury
• prevarication
• sham
• tall tale
• untruth