Idiom
ring false
Meaning
To seem to be incorrect, or implausible.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“His excuse for being late rings false.”
“I wanted to believe his story, but something about his explanation just rings false.”
“Despite the politician's carefully rehearsed speech, his promises of reform rang false to the skeptical audience.”
Examples
simple
“His excuse for being late rings false.”
contextual
“I wanted to believe his story, but something about his explanation just rings false.”
complex
“Despite the politician's carefully rehearsed speech, his promises of reform rang false to the skeptical audience.”
Key words
Related idioms
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