falsehood

[ fawls-hood ]
See synonyms for falsehood on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a false statement; lie.

  2. something false; an untrue idea, belief, etc.: The Nazis propagated the falsehood of racial superiority.

  1. the act of lying or making false statements.

  2. lack of conformity to truth or fact.

  3. Obsolete. deception.

Origin of falsehood

1
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English falsehead, falshede; see origin at false, -hood

synonym study For falsehood

1. 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.

Other words for falsehood

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Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use falsehood in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for falsehood

falsehood

/ (ˈfɔːlsˌhʊd) /


noun
  1. the quality of being untrue

  2. an untrue statement; lie

  1. the act of deceiving or lying

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