Adjacent Words

Spurious definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SPURIOUS, a. [L.]
1. Not genuine; not proceeding from the true source, or from the source pretended; counterfeit; false; adulterate. Spurious writings are such as are not composed by the authors to whom they are ascribed. Spurious drugs are common. The reformed churches reject spurious ceremonies and traditions.
2. Not legitimate; bastard; as spurious issue. By the laws of England, one begotten and born out of lawful matrimony, is a spurious child.
Spurious disease, a disease not of the genuine type, but bearing a resemblance in its symptoms.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: plausible but false; "a specious claim"; "spurious inferences" [syn: specious, spurious]
2: born out of wedlock; "the dominions of both rulers passed away to their spurious or doubtful offspring"- E.A.Freeman [syn: bastardly, misbegot, misbegotten, spurious]
3: intended to deceive; "a spurious work of art" [syn: inauthentic, unauthentic, spurious]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Late Latin & Latin; Late Latin spurius false, from Latin, of illegitimate birth, from spurius, noun, bastard Date: 1598 1. of illegitimate birth ; bastard 2. outwardly similar or corresponding to something without having its genuine qualities ; false <the spurious eminence of the pop celebrity> 3. a. of falsified or erroneously attributed origin ; forged <a spurious signature> b. of a deceitful nature or quality <spurious excuses> • spuriously adverb • spuriousness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 not genuine, not being what it purports to be, not proceeding from the pretended source (a spurious excuse). 2 having an outward similarity of form or function only. 3 (of offspring) illegitimate. Derivatives: spuriously adv. spuriousness n. Etymology: L spurius false

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Spurious Spu"ri*ous, a. [L. spurius.] 1. Not proceeding from the true source, or from the source pretended; not genuine; false; adulterate. 2. Not legitimate; bastard; as, spurious issue. ``Her spurious firstborn.'' --Milton. Spurious primary, or Spurious quill (Zo["o]l.), the first, or outer, primary quill when rudimentary or much reduced in size, as in certain singing birds. Spurious wing (Zo["o]l.), the bastard wing, or alula. Syn: Counterfeit; false; adulterate; supposititious; fictitious; bastard. -- Spu"ri*ous*ly, adv. -- Spu"ri*ous*ness, n.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. Something that is spurious seems to be genuine, but is false. He was arrested in 1979 on spurious corruption charges... ADJ: usu ADJ n [disapproval] 2. A spurious argument or way of reasoning is incorrect, and so the conclusion is probably incorrect. ...a spurious framework for analysis... ADJ: usu ADJ n [disapproval]

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Illegitimate, bastard. 2. Counterfeit, supposititious, meretricious, deceitful, sham, false, mock, pretended, feigned, clap-trap, fictitious, unauthentic, make-believe, adulterate, bogus, pinchbeck, brummagem.

Moby Thesaurus

affected, apocryphal, artificial, assumed, baseborn, bastard, bogus, brummagem, colorable, colored, contrived, counterfeit, counterfeited, deceitful, distorted, dressed up, dummy, embellished, embroidered, ersatz, factitious, fake, faked, false, falsified, fatherless, feigned, fictitious, fictive, forged, fraudulent, garbled, hypocritical, illegitimate, imitation, inauthentic, junky, make-believe, man-made, meretricious, misbegotten, miscited, miscreated, misquoted, misreported, misstated, mock, natural, perverted, phony, pinchbeck, pretend, pretended, pseudo, put-on, quasi, queer, self-styled, sham, shoddy, simulated, snide, so-called, soi-disant, substitute, supposititious, synthetic, tin, tinsel, titivated, twisted, unauthentic, unauthoritative, unfounded, ungenuine, unnatural, unreal, unreliable, warped