noun
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the state of being false or untrue
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something false; a lie or deception
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of falsity
1225–75; Middle English falsete < Anglo-French < Late Latin falsitās. See false, -ity
Explanation
A falsity is either a straight-up lie or the fact that something isn’t true. If you fake cry to try and get out of trouble, the falsity of your emotions will get you busted. Falsity is a word for statements that are false in the sense of being incorrect, untrue, or even dishonest. If you tell a lie, you've told a falsity, which can also be called an untruth or falsehood. Also, falsity can mean the general state of falseness. Con men and other liars often operate in falsity. A spy must use falsity to fool people. The opposite of falsity — or falseness — is truth.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“The falsity of this document has been proven,” Albania’s High Court ruled.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
Unless the Journal knew that its story was false, or proceeded with reckless disregard to its falsity, it’s not liable.
From Slate ● Jul. 23, 2025
At his recent news conference, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spewed a firehose of falsity about autism.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 4, 2025
The way you couched the statement that wasn’t true would indicate the seriousness of its falsity.
From Salon ● Oct. 8, 2024
No controversies with reference to the truth or falsity of the communications should be entered into during their continuance.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
Like the show’s first season, viewers won’t have to squint to make out the falsities in the “Vanderpump Villa” charade.
From Salon ● Apr. 24, 2025
Slack's view was that Section 11 of the Securities Act, which lets plaintiffs sue for falsities in a registration statement if they bought "such security," refers to registered, not unregistered, shares.
From Reuters ● Jun. 1, 2023
They said his online prose was “bluster — falsities designed to impress the people he was communicating with online.”
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 25, 2022
But the people who are purveying the falsities know, psychologically, you will keep it stored.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2020
Soldiers were quick to punch holes in any propaganda, or at any rate if they could not discern its falsities, could clench their fists at those whom they believed to be seeking to "work them."
From The History of the American Expedition Fighting the Bolsheviki Campaigning in North Russia 1918-1919 by Lewis E. Jahns
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
