untruth

untruth

noun

Definition of UNTRUTH

1

a false idea or belief <their argument rests on a fundamental untruth which has long been discredited>

Synonyms delusion, error, falsehood, falsity, hallucination, illusion, misbelief, misconception, myth, old wives' tale, untruth

Related Words factoid; superstition; fiction, pretense (or pretence); distortion, inaccuracy, misapprehension, miscomprehension, misinterpretation, misjudgment, misperception, misunderstanding; misinformation, misknowledge, misreport, misrepresentation, misstatement; sophism, sophistry; fib, half-truth, lie, story, tale

Antonyms truth, verity

2

a statement known by its maker to be untrue and made in order to deceive <the Web site is rife with untruths and misleading information>

Synonyms fable, fabrication, fairy tale, falsehood, falsity, fib, mendacity, prevarication, story, tale, taradiddle (or tarradiddle), untruth, whopper

Related Words distortion, exaggeration, half-truth; ambiguity, equivocation, obliquity; defamation, libel, slander; perjury; bluff, fiction, pose, pretense (or pretence); humbug, jive, nonsense; canard, fallacy, misconception, myth; falsification, misinformation, misreport, misrepresentation, misstatement; deceit, deceitfulness, dishonesty, duplicity, fraudulence

Near Antonyms fact, truism, verity; honesty, truthfulness, veracity; authentication, confirmation, substantiation, validation, verification

Antonyms truth

3

the quality or state of being false <there is an element of untruth in all forms of art: works of art provide only a semblance of reality>

Synonyms erroneousness, fallaciousness, falsehood, falseness, falsity, untruth

Related Words speciousness, spuriousness; deception, deceptiveness, delusion; inaccuracy, incorrectness; dishonesty, mendaciousness, mendacity, untruthfulness

Near Antonyms accuracy, actuality, correctness, factuality, factualness, genuineness; credibility, honesty, trustworthiness, truthfulness, veracity

Antonyms truth, verity