forsooth

American  

[fawr-sooth] / fɔrˈsuθ /

adverb

Archaic.

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

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forsooth British  

/ fəˈsuːθ /

adverb

1. archaic in truth; indeed

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Etymology

Origin of forsooth

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

Explanation

If you want to say "indeed" in a particularly witty, old-fashioned way, use the adverb forsooth. Sprinkle this word into your speech, and forsooth, your friends may think you sound Shakespearean: “Yes, forsooth mother, I shall walk the dog around the block.” Forsooth is an archaic adverb, mainly used in humorous contexts or on National Talk Like Shakespeare Day. Some etymologists believe it's a shortened form of “for in truth.”

Example Sentences

My friend recognized that a live football broadcast is, forsooth, a work of art—possibly the most widely beloved American art form that is never celebrated as such.

From Slate • Oct. 16, 2015

Distrait, Mark appealed to his friend, but Robert's letters brought no solace�only the melancholy news that his own wife had left him, because forsooth he had been rude to an old hag of a spiritualist.

From Time Magazine Archive

There is no more to say, Because you'll never agree That anything’s truth, But what issues, forsooth, From Holmes or the brain of McGee.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

He thought that the banker was scaring himself, and seeing bogies where no bogies were--as if forsooth a little fall meant a great catastrophe, or all the customers would leave the bank because Wolley did!

From Ovington's Bank by Weyman, Stanley J.

But love, forsooth," continued he, more bitterly; "what right to love has a beggar—an outcast from society?

From Rule of the Monk or, Rome in the Nineteenth Century by Garibaldi, Giuseppe