INDEX:
1. when what someone says is not true
2. to think of a reason or explanation that is untrue
3. an untrue story or explanation
4. what you say when you think something is untrue
RELATED WORDS
opposite
↑ TRUE
when you think something is unlikely to be true : ↑ DOUBT
see also
↑ FALSE
↑ DISHONEST
↑ BELIEVE
↑ LIE
↑ TRICK/DECEIVE
↑ TRUST/NOT TRUST
↑ RUMOUR
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1. when what someone says is not true
▷ not true /nɒt ˈtruː/ [adjective phrase not before noun]
it’s/that’s not true
▪ ‘No one ever helps me.’ ‘That’s not true.’
▪ You’re believing what Mike’s saying and it’s just not true, he doesn’t have a clue what’s happening.
it is not true that
▪ It is not true that all women want to go out to work.
▷ untrue /ʌnˈtruː/ [adjective not before noun]
not true. Untrue is more formal than not true :
▪ The report has proven this information to be untrue.
it is untrue that
▪ It is untrue that the college broke the terms of the contract.
completely/totally/absolutely/simply untrue
▪ The interviewer made it sound like I thought it was okay to hit a woman, which is totally untrue.
▷ false /fɔːls/ [adjective]
not true or not correct :
▪ He gave a false name and address to the police.
▪ The article gives a totally false impression of life in Russia today.
▪ Decide whether these statements are true or false.
▪ Her claims of being able to recall past lives were later proved false.
▷ not be the case /nɒt biː ðə ˈkeɪs/ [verb phrase]
if what someone says or believes is happening is not the case, it is not happening and what they say or believe is not true :
▪ Recent reports suggest that violent crime is increasing, but this is simply not the case.
▪ People think if kids are aware of a particular brand or ad campaign, they’ll buy the product, but that’s not the case.
▷ there is no truth in/to something /ðeər ɪz ˌnəʊ ˈtruːθ ɪn, tə something/
if there is no truth in or to something that has been said or written, it is completely untrue :
▪ There is no truth in the rumour that Collins and his wife are about to divorce.
▪ Robinson says there is no truth to the reports that he is ready to resign.
▷ misleading /mɪsˈliːdɪŋ/ [adjective]
misleading information or statements make people believe something that is not true, especially by not giving them all the facts :
▪ The holiday brochure is deliberately misleading, because the hotels it shows are not the ones you actually stay in.
▪ These statistics give a misleading impression of what is happening to the economy.
▷ not ring true /nɒt rɪŋ ˈtruː/ [verb phrase not in progressive]
if an explanation, story etc does not ring true, it does not seem to be true even though you are not quite sure why you think it is untrue :
▪ There was something odd about her story, something that didn’t ring true.
▪ One of the jurors said that Hill’s explanation just didn’t ring true.
▷ trumped-up /ˌtrʌmpt ˈʌp◂/ [adjective usually before noun]
trumped-up charge/accusation/case etc
something someone says, a legal case etc that is false and has been invented, especially in order to harm someone else for political purposes :
▪ He had been arrested by the secret police on trumped-up charges of spying.
▪ Zola believed that the case against Dreyfus was trumped-up and utterly false.
2. to think of a reason or explanation that is untrue
▷ make up /ˌmeɪk ˈʌp/ [transitive phrasal verb]
to think of a reason, explanation, excuse etc that is untrue :
make up something
▪ I gave her my name, then made up a telephone number with a Los Angeles area code.
make something up
▪ ‘You’re saying you think Bobby just made it up?’ ‘I think he believes it, but I’m not sure it’s true.’
▷ invent /ɪnˈvent/ [transitive verb]
to think of a reason, explanation, or excuse that is sometimes very complicated but completely untrue :
▪ I began to invent reasons for staying away from work.
▪ It was proven that one witness’s story had been invented.
3. an untrue story or explanation
▷ story/tale /ˈstɔːri, teɪl/ [countable noun]
an untrue story or explanation that you use as an excuse or to impress someone :
give somebody some story
▪ She gave me some story about Mark being an old friend.
tall tale/story
▪ It’s the sort of tall tale about how good they are with women that guys tell in bars.
cock-and-bull story
especially British
▪ He gave me a cock-and-bull story about the glass being smashed in the storm, but it looked to me like the two of them had had a fight.
▷ fiction /ˈfɪkʃ ə n/ [uncountable noun]
an untrue story or piece of information that someone has deliberately invented :
▪ It can sometimes be difficult to tell fact from fiction.
pure fiction
completely untrue and invented
▪ The president denied that he was ill, labelling the report ‘pure fiction.’
▷ fabrication /ˌfæbrɪˈkeɪʃ ə n/ [countable noun]
an untrue story or piece of information that someone has deliberately invented in order to deceive people :
▪ Everything that was written about me in that article was a fabrication.
total/pure/complete fabrication
▪ The defense said that the victim’s story was a total fabrication designed to get revenge.
4. what you say when you think something is untrue
▷ nonsense/rubbish British spoken also bull American spoken /ˈnɒns ə nsǁˈnɑːnsens, ˈrʌbɪʃ, bʊl/ [uncountable noun]
use this when you think something is totally untrue and stupid :
▪ I don’t know where he got that idea, it’s total bull.
▪ You don’t believe that rubbish, do you?
▪ That’s nonsense. Don’t be silly.
▷ a load of spoken also a pile of American spoken /ə ˈləʊd ɒv, ə ˈpaɪl ɒv/ [noun phrase]
use this when you think everything that someone has said or written about something is stupid and completely untrue :
a load of nonsense/rubbish
British
▪ I told Julia what he’d said, and she said that it was a load of nonsense.
▪ That article is a load of rubbish, if you ask me.