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forsooth

[fawr-sooth]
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adverb Archaic.

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

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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!

  • 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).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper