falsify

[fawl-suh-fahy]

verb (used with object)

falsified, falsifying 

1. to make false or incorrect, especially so as to deceive.

   to falsify income-tax reports.

2. to alter fraudulently.

3. to represent falsely.

   He falsified the history of his family to conceal his humble origins.

4. to show or prove to be false; disprove.

   to falsify a theory.

   Synonyms: controvert, confute, refute, discredit, rebut

verb (used without object)

falsified, falsifying 

1. to make false statements.

falsify

/ ˈfɔːlsɪˌfaɪ, ˌfɔːlsɪfɪˈkeɪʃən /

verb

1. to make (a report, evidence, accounts, etc) false or inaccurate by alteration, esp in order to deceive

2. to prove false; disprove

Other Word Forms

• falsifiable adjective
• falsification noun
• falsifier noun
• unfalsified adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of falsify¹

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English falsifien, from Middle French falsifier, from Late Latin falsificāre; false, -ify

Word History and Origins

Origin of falsify¹

C15: from Old French falsifier , from Late Latin falsificāre , from Latin falsus _false + facere to make

Synonym Study

See misrepresent.

Example Sentences

"If the Constitutional Council proclaims falsified and truncated results, it will be complicit in a breach of trust," he declared.

Read more on BBC

Under President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, independent statisticians were purged, official inflation numbers were falsified, and economists who published alternative estimates reported being pressured to stop.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

But the last recorded observation - at 15:00 - had been falsified, saying she had been seen in a corridor.

Read more on BBC

Sanberg had begun falsifying financial documents and concocting phony customers in a scheme he would later admit defrauded investors of more than $248 million.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Earlier this year, the co-founder and another top company official agreed to plead guilty to wire fraud charges and scheming to bilk investors using falsified documents.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• contradict 
• contravene 
• counterfeit 
• deceive 
• distort 
• exaggerate 
• fake 
• forge 
• misstate 
• pervert 
• tamper with