spurious

C2 Topic:Describing Qualities

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

adj 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

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

# 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

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spurious

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