false friend
a word in one language that is similar in form or sound to a word in another language but has a different meaning and may or may not be etymologically related: for example, English gift “present” and German Gift “poison” are false friends.
Origin of false friend
1confusables note For false friend
Words that may be confused with false friend
- false cognate, false friend (see confusables note at false cognate)
Words Nearby false friend
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use false friend in a sentence
Indeed, Obama said he was telling Israelis these things because he is a good friend and not a false friend.
The man is my deadly enemy, and, as you know now at last, but a false friend to you!
A German Pompadour | Marie HayNothing but the story of a faithless love and a false friend and the loss of trust in all things human or divine.
How to be Happy Though Married | E. J. Hardy.Dick (in the tones of a man whose whole life has been blighted by the machinations of a false friend).
Happy Days | Alan Alexander MilneAlderman Wood, however, we are sorry to say, was not the only false friend her majesty had to lament.
So farewell, false friend, till such near time as your ehrwrdig person decorate our hearth at Mrs. Hanks's in Harvard St.
The Letters of William James, Vol. 1 | William James
British Dictionary definitions for false friend
a word or expression in one language that, because it resembles one in another language, is often wrongly taken to have the same meaning, for example, the French agenda which means diary, not agenda
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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