adj.
- not according with truth or fact.
▸invalid or illegal:
false imprisonment.
- deliberately intended to deceive.
▸artificial.
- not actually so; illusory.
▸used in names of plants, animals, and gems that superficially resemble the thing properly so called, e.g. false scorpion.
- disloyal.
Phrase
- play someone false
deceive or cheat someone.
Derivative
- falsely adv.
- falseness n.
- falsity n.
Etymology
OE fals ‘fraud’, from L. falsum ‘fraud’, neut. past part. of fallere ‘deceive’; reinforced or re-formed in ME from OFr. fals, faus ‘false’.