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spurious

adjective
spu·​ri·​ous | \ ˈspyu̇r-Ä“-É™s How to pronounce spurious (audio) \

Definition of spurious

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
3a : of falsified or erroneously attributed origin : forged
b : of a deceitful nature or quality spurious excuses
Other Words from spurious Synonyms & Antonyms Did You Know? More Example Sentences Learn More about spurious

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Other Words from spurious

spuriously adverb
spuriousness noun

Did You Know?

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."

Examples of spurious in a Sentence

One reiterated theme of his book is that the electoral process can be the most dangerous of delusions, tending to confer a spurious legitimacy on those most willing to corrupt it. — 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
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Recent Examples on the Web

 Several dozen more Ukrainian citizens, sentenced on equally spurious charges, remain in Russian prisons. — Masha Gessen, The New Yorker, "The Release of Oleg Sentsov and the Plight of Those Left Behind," 10 Sep. 2019 And the research plan had been pre-registered in order to ensure there wasn't any post-hoc data analysis done to search for spurious but statistically significant results. — John Timmer, Ars Technica, "The genetics of sexual orientation are about as complex as sexual orientation," 30 Aug. 2019 Las Vegas already has a spurious Paris, New York, and Venice. — Christopher Muther, BostonGlobe.com, "Las Vegas goes to pot," 28 Aug. 2019 On July 19th, after weeks of naval shadow-boxing, Iran procured a bargaining chip of its own by grabbing a British tanker, the Stena Impero, in the Strait of Hormuz on spurious charges of safety violations. — The Economist, "What Britain’s release of an Iranian tanker says about its post-Brexit foreign policy," 19 Aug. 2019 The paper makes a number of arguments in favor of the connection being spurious. — John Timmer, Ars Technica, "Medical marijuana vs. opioid abuse: New study questions the connection," 13 June 2019 Garbus follows these proceedings closely, building suspense and also outrage at the prosecution’s crass attempts to manipulate witness testimony, distort facts, and offer spurious evidence. — Peter Keough, BostonGlobe.com, "A child’s death, a ruined life, in ‘Who Killed Garrett Phillips?’," 18 July 2019 Cherokee genealogists and other experts say spurious claims to be Native American are common. — Paul Pringle, latimes.com, "Claiming to be Cherokee, contractors with white ancestry got $300 million," 26 June 2019 But Zittrain, the Harvard law professor, devoted much of his talk to spurious correlations that AI has been known to surface. — STAT, "What if AI in health care is the next asbestos?," 19 June 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'spurious.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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First Known Use of spurious

1598, in the meaning defined at sense 1

History and Etymology for spurious

Late Latin & Latin; Late Latin spurius false, from Latin, of illegitimate birth, from spurius, noun, bastard

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More Definitions for spurious

spurious

adjective
How to pronounce spurious (audio)

English Language Learners Definition of spurious

: not genuine, sincere, or authentic
: based on false ideas or bad reasoning

See the full definition for spurious in the English Language Learners Dictionary

spurious

adjective
spu·​ri·​ous | \ ˈspyu̇r-Ä“-É™s How to pronounce spurious (audio) \

Medical Definition of spurious

: simulating a symptom or condition without being pathologically or morphologically genuine spurious labor pains spurious polycythemia

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More from Merriam-Webster on spurious

Rhyming Dictionary: Words that rhyme with spurious

Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for spurious

Spanish Central: Translation of spurious

Nglish: Translation of spurious for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of spurious for Arabic Speakers

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