false-positive

adjective
variants: or false positive

Medical Definition of false-positive

: relating to or being a test result or an individual that is erroneously classified in a positive category (as of diagnosis) because of imperfect testing methods or procedures a false-positive pregnancy test … one must bear in mind the cost of needless medical procedures generated by the huge number of false-positive mammograms …— David Plotkin, The Atlantic Monthly, June 1996 — compare false-negative

Other Words from false-positive

false positive noun
Another problem with the test … is that it also produces a number of false positives; that is, a number of neonates with elevated trypsin levels the first time they are tested are found not to have elevated levels on the second test. The Journal of the American Medical Association, 9 Nov. 1984