| Library / English Dictionary |
FALSEHOOD
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The act of rendering something false as by fraudulent changes (of documents or measures etc.) or counterfeiting
Synonyms:
falsehood; falsification
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("falsehood" is a kind of...):
dishonesty; knavery (lack of honesty; acts of lying or cheating or stealing)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "falsehood"):
frame-up; setup (an act that incriminates someone on a false charge)
sophistication (falsification by the use of sophistry; misleading by means of specious fallacies)
forgery (criminal falsification by making or altering an instrument with intent to defraud)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A false statement
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("falsehood" is a kind of...):
statement (a message that is stated or declared; a communication (oral or written) setting forth particulars or facts etc)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "falsehood"):
dodge; dodging; scheme (a statement that evades the question by cleverness or trickery)
lie; prevarication (a statement that deviates from or perverts the truth)
fable; fabrication; fiction (a deliberately false or improbable account)
deceit; deception; misrepresentation (a misleading falsehood)
contradiction; contradiction in terms ((logic) a statement that is necessarily false)
Antonym:
truth (a true statement)
Context examples:
He replied, “that I must needs be mistaken, or that I said the thing which was not;” for they have no word in their language to express lying or falsehood.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
Certainly, answered Elinor, without knowing what she said; but after a moment's reflection, she added, with revived security of Edward's honour and love, and her companion's falsehood—Engaged to Mr. Edward Ferrars!
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
I know not in what manner, under what form of falsehood he had imposed on you; but his success is not perhaps to be wondered at.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
Alas! Victor, when falsehood can look so like the truth, who can assure themselves of certain happiness?
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
For the world would she not have her weakness suspected, and yet, unequal to an absolute falsehood, was constrained to acknowledge that the wind had kept her awake a little.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
That he should never have been able to indulge so amiable a feeling before, passed suspiciously through Emma's brain; but still, if it were a falsehood, it was a pleasant one, and pleasantly handled.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
Presently Mr. Wood said—I cannot proceed without some investigation into what has been asserted, and evidence of its truth or falsehood.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
I had likewise learned, from his example, an utter detestation of all falsehood or disguise; and truth appeared so amiable to me, that I determined upon sacrificing every thing to it.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
She put it into her hands as she spoke; and when Elinor saw the painting, whatever other doubts her fear of a too hasty decision, or her wish of detecting falsehood might suffer to linger in her mind, she could have none of its being Edward's face.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
“And this,” said she, “is the end of all his friend's anxious circumspection! of all his sister's falsehood and contrivance! the happiest, wisest, most reasonable end!”
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
