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
She felt suddenly guilty, as though she were in some way parading in false colours.
From Stubble by Looms, George
You are painting me in false colours to that man; and this is your return for a thousand kindnesses.
From The Memoirs of Count Carlo Gozzi Volume the Second by Gozzi, Count Carlo
I could only have gone as a professed wizard or prophet—under false colours, in fact.
From Hair-Breadth Escapes The Adventures of Three Boys in South Africa by Adams, H.C.
If they were not, Dr. Trench's book appears under false colours, and is not a book of edification.
From The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Volume 1, November 1864 by
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.
