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?‎, New York: Hyperion Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 264:

     This statement is untrue.

   • 2025 July 6, Daniel De Simone, “How MI5 piled falsehood on falsehood in court in the case of a spy who abused women”, in BBC News‎, retrieved 6 July 2025:

     The service aggressively maintained its position until I produced evidence proving it was untrue - including a recording of one of the calls with a senior MI5 officer.

2. Not faithful or loyal.

   Synonyms: false, perfidious, unfaithful

   Antonym: faithful

   • 1953, Arthur Hamilton, “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 Dutch: onwaar (nl) 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 Ottoman Turkish: یالان (yalan) Plautdietsch: onwoa, faulsch, ontru Portuguese: falso (pt) Sanskrit: असत्य (sa) (asatya) Spanish: falso (es), incorrecto (es), inexacto, fatulo m (Puerto Rico) Swedish: osann (sv) Turkish: asılsız (tr)

not faithful or loyal

Dutch: ontrouw (nl) Gothic: 𐌿𐌽𐍄𐍂𐌹𐌲𐌲𐍅𐍃 (untriggws)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Woiwurrung: (please verify) man-in-da

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.