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  false positive

  noun

  a result in a medical test that wrongly indicates the presence of the condition being tested for

false-positive

American  

[fawls-poz-i-tiv] / ˈfɔlsˈpɒz ɪ tɪv /

noun

1. Medicine/Medical.

   1. a test result that is incorrect because the test indicated a condition or finding that does not exist.

      a false-positive for syphilis.

   2. a person who receives this test result.

2. 1. any screening test result that incorrectly detected or classified a person or thing.

      A false-positive at the airport could cause you to miss your flight.

   2. a person or thing identified by such a test.

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adjective

1. pertaining to or being a false-positive.

   The test has a false-positive rate of 4%.

false positive British  

noun

1. a result in a medical test that wrongly indicates the presence of the condition being tested for

2. a person from whom such a result is obtained

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Etymology

Origin of false-positive

First recorded in 1910–15

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

false-positive false positive

“An individual signal is not all that informative, but when they fire consistently over weeks or even months, the false-positive rate tends to go down,” Goepfert said.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026

But the government retracted that position less than 24-hours later, saying on Sunday that it was a false-positive.

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026

Of course, so much of what’s otherwise known points a finger directly back at Taylor Farms, false-positive atom splitting notwithstanding, and there’s only so much the company can do to deflect.

From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026

But neither the company’s website nor the Maryland paper cites a false-positive rate for op-eds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026

Along with its strong sensitivity and low false-positive rate, PEM could potentially decrease downstream healthcare costs as this study shows it may prevent further unnecessary work up compared to MRI.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 9, 2024

Many tools publish percentage figures about their accuracy, but the figures are impossible to verify and do not take into account the risk of a false positive.

From Barron's ● Sep. 25, 2026

Unless you go through it, it can be difficult to understand how destabilizing a false positive can be.

From Slate ● Sep. 9, 2026

Then came a confusing correction: A product sample the agency had initially described as positive was later determined to be a false positive.

From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026

A recent sample of lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico gave a false positive test result for the cyclosporiasis parasite.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026

The calculation is similar to the one on false positive results in drug testing, and, like it, demonstrates that misinterpreting fractions can be a matter of life and death.

From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos

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