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falsehood

noun
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false·​hood | \ ˈfȯls-ˌhu̇d How to pronounce falsehood (audio) \

Definition of falsehood

1 : an untrue statement : lie
2 : absence of truth or accuracy
3 : the practice of lying : mendacity
Synonyms & Antonyms Example Sentences Learn More about falsehood

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Examples of falsehood in a Sentence

the line between truth and falsehood the possibility of a perpetual motion machine is one falsehood that has been disproved by modern physics
Recent Examples on the Web None of it is enough to stamp out falsehoods altogether. — Nathan Bomey, USA TODAY, "Social media is full of lies, and the Iran attacks show how dangerous they've become," 8 Jan. 2020 Complete falsehoods have been stated about the city administration. — Dan Horn, Cincinnati.com, "CPS, city near impasse with multi-million dollar agreement on incentives days from expiration," 20 Dec. 2019 Hemmer isn't known for aggressively fact-checking political falsehoods or challenging President Trump's misinformation the way that Smith did. — Brian Stelter, CNN, "Bill Hemmer to succeed Shep Smith as Fox's afternoon news anchor," 9 Dec. 2019 Thorson said falsehoods about policies, as opposed to people, have their own dynamic. — Mark Pazniokas, courant.com, "Despite what you may hear, the Connecticut income tax was never meant to be temporary," 29 Nov. 2019 What Saez and Zucman are doing is taking the average of the people below this median and declaring that every one of those people lives on that level of income — an obvious falsehood. — Joshua R. Hendrickson, National Review, "An Oversimplified, Misleading Argument about Inequality and Taxes," 20 Nov. 2019 While supporters and right-wing conservatives argue that the policy is healthy for freedom of speech, critics have lambasted Facebook for endangering democracy by providing an unhindered online soapbox for falsehoods. — Chelsey Sanchez, Harper's BAZAAR, "Why Twitter Is Banning Political Ads Ahead of the 2020 Election," 31 Oct. 2019 So this is an effort to sow these falsehoods against [Vice President Joe] Biden. — Joey Morona, cleveland, "Hillary Clinton calls Trump a ‘corrupt human tornado’ in CBS interview," 26 Sep. 2019 During his time representing the White House, Sean repeatedly uttered falsehoods to the American public and became notorious for sparring with reporters. — Kayla Keegan, Good Housekeeping, "'Dancing With the Stars' Twitter SLAMS Sean Spicer’s Performance During the 2019 Premiere," 17 Sep. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'falsehood.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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First Known Use of falsehood

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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Time Traveler for falsehood

Time Traveler

The first known use of falsehood was in the 13th century

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Statistics for falsehood

Last Updated

18 Jan 2020

Cite this Entry

“Falsehood.” The Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Inc., https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/falsehood. Accessed 19 January 2020.

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More Definitions for falsehood

falsehood

noun
How to pronounce falsehood (audio)

English Language Learners Definition of falsehood

: an untrue statement
: the quality of not being true or accurate : false quality

See the full definition for falsehood in the English Language Learners Dictionary

falsehood

noun
false·​hood | \ ˈfȯls-ˌhu̇d How to pronounce falsehood (audio) \

Kids Definition of falsehood

1 : lie entry 3
2 : the habit of lying His falsehood ruined our friendship.

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More from Merriam-Webster on falsehood

Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for falsehood

Rhyming Dictionary: Words that rhyme with falsehood

Spanish Central: Translation of falsehood

Nglish: Translation of falsehood for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of falsehood for Arabic Speakers

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