spurious

spurious
   illegitimate
   From the days when birth other than to married parents was viewed differently.
   Literally, it meant not real, although the resultant human beings certainly existed:
    He would not have spurious children to get any share of the family inheritance. (J. Boswell, 1791 — Johnson was saying that adultery by a wife should be reported to her father-in-law)
   Specifically as spurious issue:
    She only argues that she may indulge herself in gallantries with equal freedom as her husband does, provided she takes care not to introduce a spurious issue into his family, (ibid.)

How not to say what you mean: A dictionary of euphemisms. . 2014.

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  • Spurious — can refer to:tatistics* Spurious correlation or spurious relationshipRadio engineering* Spurious emissionCryptography* Spurious keyLiterature* Spurious quotationComputing* Spurious interrupt * Spurious wakeup …   Wikipedia

  • Spurious — Spu ri*ous (sp[=u] r[i^]*[u^]s), a. [L. spurius.] 1. Not proceeding from the true source, or from the source pretended; not genuine; counterfeit; false; adulterate. [1913 Webster] 2. Not legitimate; bastard; as, spurious issue. Her spurious… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • spurious — I adjective apocryphal, artificial, bogus, counterfeit, deceitful, deceptive, delusive, ersatz, fabricated, fake, faked, false, feigned, fictitious, forged, fraudulent, illegitimate, imitation, misrepresented, mock, pinchbeck, pretend, pseudo,… …   Law dictionary

  • spurious — 1590s, born out of wedlock, from L. spurius illegitimate, false (Cf. It. spurio, Sp. espurio), from spurius (n.) illegitimate child, probably from Etruscan spural public. Sense of having an irregular origin, not properly constituted is from… …   Etymology dictionary

  • spurious — *counterfeit, bogus, fake, sham, pseudo, pinchbeck, phony Analogous words: *false: simulated, feigned, shammed (see ASSUME): supposititious, reputed, putative (see SUPPOSED) Antonyms: genuine Contrasted words: *authentic, veritable, bona fide:… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • spurious — [adj] counterfeit, fake affected, apocryphal, artificial, assumed, bastard*, bent, bogus, bum, contrived, deceitful, deceptive, dummy*, ersatz, faked, false, feigned, forged, framed, illegitimate, imitation, makebelieve, mock, phony, pirate,… …   New thesaurus

  • spurious — ► ADJECTIVE 1) false or fake. 2) (of a line of reasoning) apparently but not actually valid. DERIVATIVES spuriously adverb spuriousness noun. ORIGIN Latin spurius false …   English terms dictionary

  • spurious — [spyoor′ē əs, spʉr′ē əs] adj. [L spurius, illegitimate (in LL, false), orig., a bastard < Etr] 1. Now Rare illegitimate; bastard 2. not true or genuine; false; counterfeit 3. Bot. like in appearance but unlike in structure or function 4. Radio …   English World dictionary

  • spurious — [[t]spjʊ͟əriəs[/t]] 1) ADJ GRADED: usu ADJ n (disapproval) Something that is spurious seems to be genuine, but is false. He was arrested in 1979 on spurious corruption charges... Quite a lot of allegations of misjustice are spurious. Syn: bogus,… …   English dictionary

  • spurious — adjective an attempt to be excused due to some spurious medical condition Syn: bogus, fake, false, counterfeit, forged, fraudulent, sham, artificial, imitation, simulated, feigned, deceptive, misleading, specious; informal phony, pretend Ant …   Thesaurus of popular words

  • spurious — adjective Etymology: Late Latin & Latin; Late Latin spurius false, from Latin, of illegitimate birth, from spurius, noun, bastard Date: 1598 1. of illegitimate birth ; bastard 2. outwardly similar or corresponding to something without having its… …   New Collegiate Dictionary

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