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.

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, H.L. Brækstad, transl., Folk and Fairy Tales, page 11:

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

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

Translations

false

• Danish: usand
• Esperanto: malvera, nevera
• Georgian: არასწორი (arasc̣ori)
• 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)