What's the difference between falsehood and untruth?

Falsehood


Definition:

  • (n.) Want of truth or accuracy; an untrue assertion or representation; error; misrepresentation; falsity.
  • (n.) A deliberate intentional assertion of what is known to be untrue; a departure from moral integrity; a lie.
  • (n.) Treachery; deceit; perfidy; unfaithfulness.
  • (n.) A counterfeit; a false appearance; an imposture.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) It’s impossible to automate fully the process of separating truth from falsehood, and it’s dubious to cede such control to for-profit media giants.
  • (2) Unfortunately, this explosion is mild compared with the number of myths, falsehoods and downright lies which have accompanied these ideas.
  • (3) Mourinho’s pre-match utterances are generally best skimmed for the odd word not specifically dedicated to inflammatory falsehoods, but Chelsea’s manager was correct to offer some wary respect for the Football League’s champion club and here, lining up in a tightly knit 4-4-2, Leicester were sharp in the tackle early on, and pacy on the break throughout.
  • (4) When blatant falsehoods are presented as truth on critical questions - by a film that touts itself as a journalistic presentation of actual events - insisting on apolitical appreciation of this "art" is indeed a reckless abdication.
  • (5) The UK's biggest retailer began legal proceedings against the paper and its editor, Alan Rusbridger, for libel and malicious falsehood.
  • (6) Mayer blasted “falsehoods” she said had been circulating in the media, including reports that the company had spent $7m on its holiday party and $4m on a food program.
  • (7) Just as the Victorian science revolution played havoc with religious superstition, so the information revolution can now play havoc with political falsehood.
  • (8) In response Maguwu gave himself up and was charged with publishing falsehoods prejudicial to the economic interests of the state.
  • (9) Among the nine instances of alleged falsehoods, it is alleged that Coulson falsely claimed that he did not know his royal editor Clive Goodman was involved in hacking, that he did not know payments were being paid to Mulcaire for hacking and that he had not heard Mulcaire’s name prior to his arrest.
  • (10) So what are the facts and falsehoods about our new fivers?
  • (11) "They promote a falsehood, the homophobic idea of 'therapy' to change the sexual orientation of lesbians and gay men."
  • (12) I now had to learn about the law of malicious falsehood – the company claimed I personally had deliberately constructed a lie – as well as a libel.
  • (13) When it was a good story it was worth doing the extra work, but much of the time it would turn out to be a lie.” The woes of fact-checking Trump are now well known, but they weren’t then, or even when Mulcahy first wrote about them publicly: her 1988 book about her time at Page Six devotes an entire half a chapter to Trump’s fondness for falsehoods.
  • (14) Abbott has in an interview with Fairfax unleashed a fresh tirade about Julie Bishop , accusing her of peddling falsehoods about the events leading up to Turnbull’s ascension.
  • (15) But how many more times must we be subjected to the utter falsehood that somehow Cameron had to “meet the challenges of economic crisis”, as Vernon Bogdanor writes?
  • (16) Michael Cohen told the Associated Press on Saturday that Schneiderman's lawsuit was filled with falsehoods.
  • (17) While the internet and social media can lead to the rapid spread of falsehoods and dubious claims, they can also be used to check quickly such claims and expose lies ( Trump and Brexit herald a brave new word: post-truth , 16 November).
  • (18) The New York Times was right to call out the White House on obvious falsehoods, but its big headline was part of the reactive news coverage that Trump gamed throughout his campaign.
  • (19) And MSNBC still has quite a ways to go before it matches Fox's demonstrated willingness to spew outright falsehoods in pursuit of its partisan agenda.
  • (20) During a trip to Kiev, US secretary of state John Kerry claimed Moscow was “working hard to create a pretext for Russia to invade further,” and “hiding its hand behind falsehoods, intimidation and provocations.” Kerry also scoffed at reports of a news conference held by Vladimir Putin in which he appeared to deny a Russian military presence in Crimea.

Untruth


Definition:

  • (n.) The quality of being untrue; contrariety to truth; want of veracity; also, treachery; faithlessness; disloyalty.
  • (n.) That which is untrue; a false assertion; a falsehood; a lie; also, an act of treachery or disloyalty.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Clapper has since admitted that was the "least untruthful" answer he could have given.
  • (2) Getting your child a place in your local school becomes more and more difficult; there is more competition for jobs; wages are held down.” As the war of words heightened, the Tory former PM Sir John Major accused the leave side of telling deliberate untruths.
  • (3) The second alleged untruth surrounds the police claim that they properly investigated the use of the gun Duggan had in a pistol whipping attack weeks before he collected it.
  • (4) Leahy, joined by ranking Republican Chuck Grassley of Iowa, criticised director of national intelligence James Clapper for making untruthful statements to Congress in March about the bulk phone records collection on Americans, and NSA director Keith Alexander for overstating the usefulness of that collection for stopping terrorist attacks.
  • (5) Describing how his reputation had been destroyed by Rowland's "untruths", the former chief whip, who lost his job over the row, said the officer's claims that he called the police "plebs" and swore at them were "made up and disseminated" by Rowland himself.
  • (6) The internet will become constructed entirely of two different sorts of untruth: contemporaneous unalloyed praise and posthumous defamatory hearsay.
  • (7) The family of Ian Tomlinson said Scotland Yard’s statement marked the end of a long legal battle in the face of untruthful accounts and obstruction by PC Simon Harwood, who assaulted Tomlinson, and other officers.
  • (8) There were so many stories, so many rumours, so many repeated untruths, so many unchecked facts and retweeted opinions, and half-baked half-lies, that the story, let alone the truth, never had a chance.
  • (9) Bob Shrum , a Democratic consultant who worked for Al Gore and John Kerry, said: “The untruths are more noticeable now because they’re in the White House but her pattern all along was to say whatever pops into her head that she thinks defends [Trump].
  • (10) Whatever, he should not be allowed to get away with untruths.
  • (11) As the writer Clay Shirky put it, Democrats who respond to Trump by patiently noting his contradictions and untruths are making a category error: “We’ve brought fact-checkers to a culture war”.
  • (12) Voters in Stoke who previously said they’d vote for him are sure to be put off as Ukip is revealed as just another political party peddling in untruths.
  • (13) Cameron accused the leave side of “resorting to total untruths to con people into taking a leap in the dark: it’s irresponsible and it’s wrong and it’s time that the leave campaign was called out on the nonsense that they are peddling.” But instead of forcing the other side to defend its claims, Cameron’s attack fed an atmosphere of general detachment from rational argument and empirical evidence.
  • (14) It's surely not just me who, reading this, thinks of the government telling us, in the brazen untruth akin to O'Brien convincing Winston Smith that two plus two equals five, that we're all in this together.
  • (15) "The picture painted for the PAC by the BBC Trust witnesses on 10 July 2013 was – in addition to specific untruths and inaccuracies – fundamentally misleading about the extent of Trust knowledge and involvement," he writes.
  • (16) They have – knowingly – told untruths about the cost of Europe .
  • (17) Burke asks him to withdraw an "untruthful statement".
  • (18) In court, Mr Sheridan described the News of the World as "pedlars of falsehood, promoters of untruth, concerned only with sales, circulation and profit, not people's lives and truth".
  • (19) He said the NSA had no such program – and then added that that was the least "untruthful" remark he could make.
  • (20) In the document leaked onThursday, Thompson accuses the two of trading in "specific untruths and inaccuracies".