falseness
Lack of genuineness
Falseness is the quality of being false—untrue, fake, or disloyal.
It can describe statements that don't match reality, objects that aren't genuine, or people who pretend feelings they don't have: the falseness of his smile, the falseness of her promises.
The word carries a note of betrayal or deception that *falsehood* lacks.
Deceptive outward appearance
- veneerDecorative outer layer
- charadeAbsurd or obvious pretense
- masqueradeDeceptive act or costume party
- guiseExternal manner shown
affectation · posturing · insincerity · disingenuousness · playacting · sham · pose · feigning
Deliberate misleading of others
- fraudIntentional criminal trickery
- hoaxDeliberate deception for effect
- swindleDeception for financial gain
- conArgument against
scam · trickery · dupery · imposture · bamboozle · charlatan · subterfuge · chicanery
Deliberate falsehood
- fabricationDeliberately untrue statement
- fibTrivial, harmless falsehood
- misinformationFalse data spread unintentionally
- disinformationIntentional deceptive falsehoods
distortion · misstatement · mendacity · perjury · prevarication · exaggeration · invention · canard
Deliberate violation of trust
- treasonBetraying one's nation
- perfidyDeliberate breach of trust
- disloyaltyBreach of allegiance
- faithlessnessDisloyalty or treachery
backstabbing · sellout · infidelity · Judas · turncoat · cheating · betrayer · two-timing
Deceptive reasoning
- sophismMisleading logical trickery
- equivocationAmbiguous language avoiding commitment
- fallaciousnessQuality of being logically flawed
- speciousSuperficially plausible but flawed
misleading · unsoundness · invalidity · illogic · casuistry · spuriousness · erroneousness
facade
Deceptive outward appearance
- veneerDecorative outer layer
- charadeAbsurd or obvious pretense
- masqueradeDeceptive act or costume party
guise · affectation · posturing · insincerity · disingenuousness · playacting · sham · pose · feigning · simulation
deceit
Deliberate misleading of others
- fraudIntentional criminal trickery
- hoaxDeliberate deception for effect
- swindleDeception for financial gain
con · scam · trickery · dupery · imposture · bamboozle · charlatan · subterfuge · chicanery · guile
lie
Deliberate falsehood
- fabricationDeliberately untrue statement
- fibTrivial, harmless falsehood
- misinformationFalse data spread unintentionally
disinformation · distortion · misstatement · mendacity · perjury · prevarication · exaggeration · invention · canard · untruthfulness
treachery
Deliberate violation of trust
- treasonBetraying one's nation
- perfidyDeliberate breach of trust
- disloyaltyBreach of allegiance
faithlessness · backstabbing · sellout · infidelity · Judas · turncoat · cheating · betrayer · two-timing
sophistry
Deceptive reasoning
- sophismMisleading logical trickery
- equivocationAmbiguous language avoiding commitment
- fallaciousnessQuality of being logically flawed
specious · misleading · unsoundness · invalidity · illogic · casuistry · spuriousness · erroneousness
- deceptionlie, lies, lying, fake, fraud
- deceptionslie, lies, lying, deceit, decoy
- honestyhonesty, truthfulness, candor, sincerity, dishonesty
- insincerityinsincerity, phoniness, fakeness, pretense, dissembling
- states of integrityhonesty, dishonesty, truthfulness, deceit, sincerity
- unnaturalnessartificiality, affectation, contrivance, fabrication, simulation
falsenesstruth
Accordance with reality
truthfulness · veracity · accuracy · correctness · factuality
falsenessauthenticity
Quality of being genuine
genuineness · realness · legitimacy · originality · naturalness
false, falsehood, fallacy, falsely, fallacious, falsify, falsity, falsification, falsifying