spurious
adjective
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The classical Latin adjective spurius started out as a word meaning "illegitimate." In the days of ancient Rome, it was sometimes even used as a first name for illegitimate offspring (apparently with no dire effects). There was a certain Spurius Lucretius, for example, who was made temporary magistrate of Rome. In less tolerant times, 18th-century English writer Horace Walpole noted that Henry VII "came of the spurious stock of John of Gaunt." Today, we still use spurious to mean "illegitimate," but the more common meaning is "false" (a sense introduced to spurious in Late Latin). Originally our "false" sense emphasized improper origin, and it still often does ("a spurious signature"), but it can also simply mean "fake" or "not real."
Synonyms
Examples of spurious in a Sentence
Hilary Mantel, New York Review, 21 Sept. 2006
Of all the potentially spurious phrases regularly found lurking on book jackets, none should be approached with greater wariness than "This is his first novel."
—Tony Early, New York Times Book Review, 30 Apr. 2000
I have no special interest in defending modern finance theory, but I think it is important to get this straight, lest Soros's own ideas acquire spurious validity as a practical corrective to academic moonshine.
—Robert M. Solow, New Republic, 12 Apr. 1999
a spurious Picasso painting that wouldn't have fooled an art expert for a second
claimed that the governor's election-year enthusiasm for conservation was spurious, since he had cut funding for state parks
The New Yorker, 5 Nov. 2024
Additionally, there are mechanisms in agencies across the federal government to distinguish legitimate complaints of gender or racial bias from spurious ones.
—Reuben E. Brigety Ii, Foreign Affairs, 8 Dec. 2016
Also worth noting: This isn’t the first time spurious accusations have been used against Hagekhalil.
—Sammy Roth, Los Angeles Times, 17 Oct. 2024
Her exposé, which haphazardly connected a few spurious dots, provoked a media frenzy that led to the most famous L.A. car chase since O.J.
—Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker, 9 Oct. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Spurious.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spurious. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
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spurious
adjective
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spurious
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