spurious

C2 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈspjʊɹ.i.əs/ UK /ˈspjʊə.ɹi.əs/ See IPA manual

Freq #45703

Meanings

1

adj
False or fake; not genuine or authentic.

The painting turned out to be spurious, not a real Rembrandt.
2

adj
Seeming reasonable but actually false or misleading.

The study drew a spurious link between the two unrelated events.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · false or fake; not genuine... bogus counterfeit fake false

2 adj · seeming reasonable but... specious fallacious

Opposites

genuine representative

Word family

Derived forms nonspuriousspurionspuriosityspuriouslyspuriousnessunspurious

Related forms specious

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

spurious correlation
an apparent relationship between variables caused by other factors rather than a direct connection

Adjective + noun

Simplified etymology

Spurious entered English in the late 16th century with the sense “born outside marriage” or “illegitimate,” based on Latin spurius, “false.” By the beginning of the 17th century its meaning had broadened to “of doubtful origin” and hence “false” or “fake.”

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin spurius (“illegitimate, bastardly”), possibly related to sperno or from Etruscan.

spurius la-lat

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# spurious

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈspjʊɹ.i.əs/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈspjʊə.ɹi.əs/
**Frequency rank:** 45703

## Meanings
1. False or fake; not genuine or authentic.
2. Seeming reasonable but actually false or misleading.

## Examples
- The painting turned out to be spurious, not a real Rembrandt.
- The study drew a spurious link between the two unrelated events.

## Antonyms
- genuine
- representative

## Derived Forms
- nonspurious
- spurion
- spuriosity
- spuriously
- spuriousness
- unspurious

## Related Forms
- specious

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: spurius

## Etymology
Borrowed from Late Latin spurius (“illegitimate, bastardly”), possibly related to sperno or from Etruscan.

## AI Etymology
Spurious is borrowed from Late Latin spurius (“illegitimate, bastardly”), possibly related to sperno or from Etruscan. Important recorded forms include spurius (la-lat). Current senses include false or fake; not genuine or authentic and seeming reasonable but actually false or misleading. The wider family includes derived forms such as nonspurious, spurion, spuriosity, spuriously, and spuriousness; related words such as specious.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

markdown