falsification

/ˌfælsəfəˈkeɪʃən/

Other forms: falsifications

Falsification is the act of deliberately lying about or misrepresenting something. If you write a note to your teacher excusing your absence the day before and claim it was written by your dad, that's falsification.

People commit falsification whenever they present something that's forged or altered so that its information is false. Changing your grades on your report card before your parents sign it is falsification — and likely to get you in big trouble! This noun comes from the verb falsify, "alter so as to mislead," from the Latin root falsus, "erroneous, mistaken, or false."

Definitions of falsification

1. noun

   a willful perversion of facts
   synonyms: misrepresentation

   types:

   distortion, overrefinement, straining, torture, twisting

   the act of distorting something so it seems to mean something it was not intended to mean

   equivocation, tergiversation

   falsification by means of vague or ambiguous language

   fabrication, lying, prevarication

   the deliberate act of deviating from the truth

   deceit, deception, dissembling, dissimulation

   the act of deceiving

   fibbing, paltering

   a trivial act of lying or being deliberately unclear

   fakery

   the act of faking (or the product of faking)

   indirection

   deceitful action that is not straightforward

   chicane, chicanery, guile, shenanigan, trickery, wile

   the use of tricks to deceive someone (usually to extract money from them)

   double-dealing, duplicity

   acting in bad faith; deception by pretending to entertain one set of intentions while acting under the influence of another

   cheat, cheating

   a deception for profit to yourself

   delusion, head game, illusion

   the act of deluding; deception by creating illusory ideas

   feigning, pretence, pretending, pretense, simulation

   the act of giving a false appearance

   impersonation, imposture

   pretending to be another person

   obscurantism

   a deliberate act intended to make something obscure

   bluff, four flush

   the act of bluffing in poker; deception by a false show of confidence in the strength of your cards

   take-in

   the act of taking in as by fooling or cheating or swindling someone

   type of:

   actus reus, misconduct, wrongdoing, wrongful conduct

   activity that transgresses moral or civil law
2. noun

   the act of determining that something is false
   synonyms: disproof, falsifying, refutal, refutation

   type of:

   determination, finding

   the act of determining the properties of something, usually by research or calculation
3. noun

   any evidence that helps to establish the falsity of something
   synonyms: disproof, refutation

   types:

   reductio, reductio ad absurdum

   (reduction to the absurd) a disproof by showing that the consequences of the proposition are absurd; or a proof of a proposition by showing that its negation leads to a contradiction

   confutation

   evidence that refutes conclusively

   counterexample

   refutation by example

   type of:

   evidence, grounds

   your basis for belief or disbelief; knowledge on which to base belief
4. noun

   the act of rendering something false as by fraudulent changes (of documents or measures etc.) or counterfeiting
   synonyms: falsehood

   types:

   frame-up, setup

   an act that incriminates someone on a false charge

   sophistication

   falsification by the use of sophistry; misleading by means of specious fallacies

   forgery

   criminal falsification by making or altering an instrument with intent to defraud

   type of:

   dishonesty, knavery

   lack of honesty; acts of lying or cheating or stealing