falsifiable

[fawl-suh-fahy-uh-buhl]

adjective

1. able to be altered or represented falsely.

   Using this technology ensures that customer transactions are tamper-resistant and not falsifiable.

2. able to be proven false.

   All scientific theories are falsifiable: if evidence that contradicts a theory comes to light, the theory itself is either modified or discarded.

Other Word Forms

• falsifiability noun
• nonfalsifiable adjective
• unfalsifiable adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of falsifiable¹

First recorded in 1605–15; falsify ( def. ) + -able ( def. )

Example Sentences

In the sciences, this ideal is embedded in the Popperian method: Theories must be falsifiable, and progress comes not through confirming our beliefs, but by trying to disprove them.

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It’s not quite true but also not entirely falsifiable, and other small nations next door to current or former superpowers have similar complexes.

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Scientific propositions are, however, testable and hence theoretically falsifiable, so even familiar ones are contingent.

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Those of us in the media should know better, accustomed as we are to spin, lies and falsifiable denials.

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Based on such exchanges, Agüera y Arcas argued that "statistics do amount to understanding, in any falsifiable sense."

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