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  false positive

  noun

  a result in a medical test that wrongly indicates the presence of the condition being tested for

false-positive

American  

[fawls-poz-i-tiv] / ˈfɔlsˈpɒz ɪ tɪv /

noun

1. Medicine/Medical.

   1. a test result that is incorrect because the test indicated a condition or finding that does not exist.

      a false-positive for syphilis.

   2. a person who receives this test result.

2. 1. any screening test result that incorrectly detected or classified a person or thing.

      A false-positive at the airport could cause you to miss your flight.

   2. a person or thing identified by such a test.

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adjective

1. pertaining to or being a false-positive.

   The test has a false-positive rate of 4%.

false positive British  

noun

1. a result in a medical test that wrongly indicates the presence of the condition being tested for

2. a person from whom such a result is obtained

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Etymology

Origin of false-positive

First recorded in 1910–15

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

false-positive false positive

There are also worries about the costs and anxiety that can accompany a false-positive test.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026

But the government retracted that position less than 24-hours later, saying on Sunday that it was a false-positive.

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026

But neither the company’s website nor the Maryland paper cites a false-positive rate for op-eds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026

When I asked—a little hesitantly—she told me that she’s phased out the DRE for her patients in favor of a blood test that, while not foolproof, is less likely to result in false-positive results.

From Slate ● Aug. 17, 2024

"The reading workload is further compounded when screening programs employ double reading to improve cancer detection and decrease false-positive recalls."

From Science Daily ● Jun. 4, 2024

Many tools publish percentage figures about their accuracy, but the figures are impossible to verify and do not take into account the risk of a false positive.

From Barron's ● Sep. 25, 2026

However, FDA officials said the false positive did not change the course of the outbreak investigation, “or the overwhelming epidemiological data supporting the ... voluntary recall by Taylor Farms.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2026

The FDA, however, doubled down on the severity of the investigation, saying in an X post that the false positive doesn’t change “the overwhelming epidemiological data supporting the current voluntary recall by Taylor Farms.”

From Salon ● Jul. 25, 2026

The next day the agency said the test was a false positive, though it still believed Taylor Farms lettuce from the region is the culprit.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026

The calculation is similar to the one on false positive results in drug testing, and, like it, demonstrates that misinterpreting fractions can be a matter of life and death.

From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos