different between deceptive vs false

English

Etymology

From Middle French déceptif, from Latin d?cept?vus, from d?cipi? (“I deceive”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d?.?s?p.t?v/

Adjective

deceptive (comparative more deceptive, superlative most deceptive)

1. Likely or attempting to deceive.

   Synonym: misleading

   • 1653, John Bulwer, Anthropometamorphosis, London: William Hunt, Scene 24, p. 521,^[1]

     […] others declare that no Creature can be made or transmuted into a better or worse, or transformed into another species […] and Martinus Delrio the Jesuit accounts this degeneration of Man into a Beast to be an illusion, deceptive and repugnant to Nature;

   • 1789, Thomas Holcroft (translator), The History of My Own Times by Frederick the Great, London: G.G.J. and J. Robinson, Part 1, Chapter 12, p. 163,^[2]

     […] at the opening of the campaign, the French, after various deceptive attempts on different places, suddenly invested Tournay.

   • 1846, Richard Chenevix Trench, Notes on the Miracles of Our Lord, London: John W. Parker, 2nd ed., 1847, Preliminary Essay, Chapter 2, p. 10,^[3]

     language altogether deceptive, and hiding the deeper reality from our eyes

   • 1978, Susan Sontag, Illness as Metaphor, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Chapter 2, p. 13,^[4]

     […] it is characteristic of TB that many of its symptoms are deceptive—liveliness that comes from enervation, rosy cheeks that look like a sign of health but come from fever—and an upsurge of vitality may be a sign of approaching death.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:deceptive

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle English false, fals, from Old English fals (“false; counterfeit; fraudulent; wrong; mistaken”), from Latin falsus (“counterfeit, false; falsehood”), perfect passive participle of fall? (“deceive”). Reinforced in Middle English by Anglo-Norman and Old French fals, faus. Compare Scots fals, false, Saterland Frisian falsk, German falsch, Dutch vals, Swedish and Danish falsk; all from Latin falsus. Displaced native Middle English les, lese, from Old English l?as (“false”); See lease, leasing. Doublet of faux.

Pronunciation

• (UK, General New Zealand, General Australian) IPA^(key): /f??ls/, /f?ls/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /f?ls/, /f?ls/

Adjective

false (comparative falser, superlative falsest)

1. Untrue, not factual, factually incorrect.
2. Based on factually incorrect premises.

3. Spurious, artificial.
4. (logic) Of a state in Boolean logic that indicates a negative result.
5. Uttering falsehood; dishonest or deceitful.

6. Not faithful or loyal, as to obligations, allegiance, vows, etc.; untrue; treacherous.
7. Not well founded; not firm or trustworthy; erroneous.
8. Not essential or permanent, as parts of a structure which are temporary or supplemental.
9. Used in the vernacular name of a species (or group of species) together with the name of another species to which it is similar in appearance.

10. (music) Out of tune.

Synonyms

• lease
• See also Thesaurus:false

Antonyms

• (untrue): real, true

Derived terms

Translations

Adverb

false (comparative more false, superlative most false)

1. in a dishonest and disloyal way; falsely.

Noun

false (plural falses)

1. One of two options on a true-or-false test.

Anagrams

• A.S.L.E.F., Leafs, alefs, fasel, feals, fleas, leafs, lefsa

Italian

Adjective

false f pl

1. feminine plural of falso

Latin

Noun

false

1. vocative singular of falsus

References

• false in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• false in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• false in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

Spanish

Verb

false

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of falsar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of falsar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of falsar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of falsar.