false

modif.

1. Said of persons

   perfidious, faithless, treacherous, unfaithful, disloyal, dishonest, lying, untruthful, base, hypocritical, double-dealing, knavish, roguish, malevolent, rascally, scoundrelly, mean, malicious, venal, deceitful, mendacious, underhanded, corrupt, forsworn, unscrupulous, untrustworthy, falsehearted, dishonorable, villainous, treasonable, traitorous, seditious, canting, insincere, two-faced*; see also senses 2, 3.

   Antonyms faithful*, true*, honorable. *

2. Said of statements or supposed facts

   untrue, mistaken, spurious, apocryphal, fanciful, mendacious, untruthful, fictitious, deceptive, concocted, fallacious, incorrect, inaccurate, wrong, sophistical, casuistic, Jesuitical, misleading, delusive, imaginary, illusive, erroneous, invalid, deceiving, misrepresentative, fraudulent, trumped-up, contrary to fact, fishy*, cooked-up*; see also senses 1, 3.

   Antonyms accurate*, correct*, established. *

3. Said of things

   sham, counterfeit, fabricated, manufactured, synthetic, factitious, bogus, spurious, make-believe, assumed, unreal, not genuine, copied, forged, pretended, faked, made-up, simulated, imitation, lifeless, pseudo, hollow, mock, feigned, bastard, base, shoddy, alloyed, artificial, contrived, colored, disguised, deceptive, adulterated, plated, so-called, meretricious, fake, ersatz, phony*, gyp*, catchpenny*, bum*, false-colored*, queer*, not what it's cracked up to be*; see also senses 1, 2.

   Antonyms real*, genuine*, authentic.

false, in this comparison, refers to anything that is not in essence that which it purports to be and may or may not connote deliberate deception false hair, false eyelashes; sham refers to an imitation or simulation of something and usually connotes intent to deceive sham piety; counterfeit and the colloquial bogus apply to a very careful imitation and always imply intent to deceive or defraud counterfeit, or bogus, money; fake is a less formal term for any person or thing that is not genuine a fake doctor, chimney, etc. See also syn. study at faithless.

play someone false

put in a false position