forsooth

[fawr-sooth]

adverb Archaic.

(now used in derision or to express disbelief) in truth; in fact; indeed.

Origin of forsooth

before 900; Middle English forsothe, Old English forsōth. See for, sooth

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for forsooth

Historical Examples of forsooth

Lent her by Father Christopher of the priory, forsooth—that is ever her answer.
The White Company
Arthur Conan Doyle
It would not have a circus of its own, forsooth, but it would share in ours!
Meadow Grass
Alice Brown
He would reduce us to the example of the primitive ages, forsooth!
Joseph Andrews Vol. 1
Henry Fielding
Your governess cannot win the confidence and respect of your children, forsooth!
Life And Adventures Of Martin Chuzzlewit
Charles Dickens
And why, forsooth, but because those tents were covered with skins?
The Praise of Folly
Desiderius Erasmus

British Dictionary definitions for forsooth

forsooth

adverb

archaic in truth; indeed

Word Origin for forsooth

Old English forsōth

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

Word Origin and History for forsooth

adv.

Old English forsoð "indeed, verily," from for-, perhaps here with intensive force (or else the whole might be "for a truth"), + soð "truth" (see sooth).