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
Their missions—basically, to serve as neutral, credible platforms for evaluating the relative truth and falsity of statements and rhetoric across the political spectrum—are laudable and entirely uncontroversial.
From Slate ● Nov. 4, 2024
The way you couched the statement that wasn’t true would indicate the seriousness of its falsity.
From Salon ● Oct. 8, 2024
The challenge of fighting the fire hose of falsity being trained on science has made some scientists cynical about the prospects of victory, Sell acknowledges.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 22, 2024
The story could not be true, but this old gentleman so loved it that I could never convince him of its falsity, so I didn’t try.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
He looked at me with his sad baby blues and shared how he told these innocuous falsities, ultimately, out of deep-seeded self-hatred.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 23, 2026
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
“There is no constitutional right to speak or publish damaging falsities accusing someone of serious crimes they did not commit,” the lawsuit reads.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 29, 2023
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
But touched into motion by Mrs. Milo's frank cruelty, it had swept upon the two women, destroying all the falsities that had hitherto made any thought of separation impossible.
From Apron-Strings by Eleanor Gates
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.
