false colours
Britishplural noun
-
a flag to which one is not entitled, flown esp in order to deceive
the ship was sailing under false colours
-
an assumed or misleading name or guise
to trade under false colours
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The new photographs include images in false colours that clearly show the shape of Carn Glas.
From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2023
This is the article, my countrymen, which knaves and blockheads have so often dressed up in false colours, and requested your attention to the construction of it.
From Essays on the Constitution of the United States by Paul Leicester Ford
Duke William of Bavaria reproached De Eck with having represented the Lutheran doctrine to him in entirely false colours.
From Pine Needles by Susan Warner
Why then Pursue my tale under false colours?
From Tales of the Wonder Club, Volume III by M. Y. Halidom (pseud. Dryasdust)
Maybe, and I hope so, but a woman can sail under false colours and dummy portholes without a sign of her real feelings.
From The Golden Rock by Ernest Glanville
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
