Falsely

How to spell falsely

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce falsely

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does falsely mean?

1. adverbIn a way that is untrue, inaccurate, or intended to deceive.

Falsely in a sentence

• The witness had falsely accused an innocent colleague.

• The label falsely claimed the product was organic.

Where does falsely come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word grows out of the adjective 'false', which English took from the Latin falsus, meaning 'deceived' or 'untrue'. Falsus was the past participle of the verb fallere, which literally meant 'to deceive', 'to trip up', or 'to cause to stumble', and that same root surfaces in modern relatives like 'fail', 'fallacy', and 'fault'. The adjective reached English partly through Old French faus or fals and partly through direct Latin influence in the early medieval period, and it was already well established in Old English use by the time of the Norman Conquest. To form the adverb, English simply added the native suffix '-ly', which descends from the Old English '-lice', meaning 'in the manner of'. The spelling keeps the full 'false' before the '-ly', so the silent 'e' stays put and the word reads as false plus ly, a useful reminder when the ear hears no clear vowel in the middle.

How the word is built

• false (from Latin falsus: untrue, deceptive)
• -ly (adverb suffix)