untrue

English

Alternative forms

• untrew (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English untrewe, from Old English untrīewe, from Proto-West Germanic *untriuwī, from Proto-Germanic *untriwwiz. Equivalent to un- +‎ true.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʌnˈtɹuː/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uː

Adjective

untrue (comparative more untrue, superlative most untrue)

1. False; not true.

   Synonyms: false, inaccurate, incorrect, unveridical, wrong; see also Thesaurus:false

   Antonym: true

   She says that I stole her necklace, but that's completely untrue.

   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 11:

     "I know it is true, for an untrue word never passed her lips."

   • 2004, George Carlin, When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?‎^[1], New York: Hyperion Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 264:

     This statement is untrue.

2. Not faithful or loyal.

   Synonyms: false, perfidious, unfaithful

   Antonym: faithful

   • 1953, Arthur Hamilton (lyrics and music), “Cry Me a River”:

     Now you say you're sorry / For being so untrue / Well, you can cry me a river, cry me a river

   • 1971, “Let's Stay Together”, performed by Al Green:

     Let me be the one you come running to / I'll never be untrue

   • 2019, “The Night You Didn't Come”, in Becoming Peter Ivers, performed by Peter Ivers:

     Tonight you didn't come / And my senses all were reeling / I had a certain scary feeling you'd been untrue

Derived terms

• untruism

Collocations

nouns

• untrue statement
• untrue things
• untrue story
• untrue information
• untrue words
• untrue claims
• untrue accusations
• untrue rumors
• untrue allegations
• untrue picture
• untrue reports
• untrue man

adverbs

• completely untrue
• entirely untrue
• patently untrue
• absolutely untrue
• totally untrue
• so untrue
• quite untrue
• simply untrue
• obviously untrue
• clearly untrue
• manifestly untrue

Translations

false

• Bulgarian: грешен (bg) (grešen), неверен (bg) (neveren)
• Danish: usand
• Esperanto: malvera, nevera
• Georgian: არასწორი (arasc̣ori), არამართებული (aramartebuli), არამართალი (aramartali), არანამდვილი (aranamdvili), ცრუ (cru), ტყუილი (ka) (ṭq̇uili)
• German: unwahr (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ψευδής (pseudḗs)

• Icelandic: rangur (is), ósannur (is)
• Irish: ainfhíor
• Italian: falso (it)
• Latin: falsus
• Maori: tahupera, meho, hāwatewate, rūkahu, rūpahu
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: usann

  Nynorsk: usann

• Old English: unsōþ, untrēowe
• Plautdietsch: onwoa, faulsch, ontru
• Portuguese: falso (pt)
• Sanskrit: असत्य (sa) (asatya)
• Spanish: falso (es), incorrecto (es), inexacto
• Swedish: osann (sv)
• Turkish: asılsız (tr)

not faithful or loyal

• Gothic: 𐌿𐌽𐍄𐍂𐌹𐌲𐌲𐍅𐍃 (untriggws)

Further reading

• “untrue”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “untrue”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “untrue”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
• “untrue”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “untrue” (US) / “untrue” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.