sth S: He detected the
fallacy of
her argument. A—see also
PATHETIC FALLACY
fall-back /‘foilbaek/
noun a plan or course of action that is ready to be used in an
emergency if other things fail j£Z3£i+$J; iI5&: What’s our
fallback if they don’t come up with the money? gJiffefTjiAftfffe,
0 We need a fallback
position if they won’t do the job.
$nifHM7AA&Am
fallen /’foilan/ adj. [only before noun] 1 lying on the ground,
after falling $J A 67 frxJ; ^ & i& ± #]: a fallen tree #iJA
WM 2 (format) (of a soldier ±^)
killed in a war [At 67 — see also fall
v. fallen 'woman noun (old-fashioned) a way of describing a
woman in the past who had a sexual relationship with sb who was not her
husband M % £3 it
(
'fall guy noun (especially NAmE) a person who is blamed
or punished for sth wrong that another person has done EBG3 scapegoat
fall ible /'faelabl/ adj.
able to make mistakes or be wrong :
Memory is selective and fallible, id
O All human beings are fallible. EH3 infallible ► fal-U-bil-ity /.faela’bilati/ noun
[U]: human fallibility AH3B 'falling-off noun [sing.] (BrE) = fall-off falling-'out noun (informal) [sing.] a situation where
people are no longer friends, caused by a disagreement or an argument A ; f^j M : Dave and I had a
falling-out. M&mmmT*
.falling
‘star noun = shooting star 'fall-off
(BrE also less frequent ‘falling-off) noun [sing.] ~ (in sth) a reduction in the
number, amount or quality of sth ( mm&)
) MA; (.m-tltt ) ftffc: a recent fall-off in sales
Fal lo pian tube (also fal-lo-pian tube) /fa.laupian 'tju:b; NAmE fa'loupian tu:b/ noun (anatomy ffl) one of the two tubes
in the body of a woman or female animal along which eggs pass from the ovaries to the uterus
fall-out /'forlaut/
noun [U] 1 dangerous radioactive dust that is in the air
after a nuclear explosion (
2
the bad results of a situation or
an action
fal low /'faeleu; NAmE -loo/ adj. 1 (of farm land AH) not
used for growing crops, especially so that the quality of the land will improve
#; |!tfj; fA P+0 fill: Farmers are now paid to let their land lie
fallow.
#7# 5!) T 2 (of a period of time —fcBtH) when
nothing is created or
produced; not successful W
M a'o
'fallow deer noun a small European deer with white spots on its back )
'fall-pipe noun (USi) = downpipe false tHr /foils/ adj.
►
NOT TRUE AJtt 1 wrong;
not correct or true
AIEfiftfr-J; A whale is a fish. True or false? is
HOift., Ji: la ? O Predictions of an
early improvement in the housing market proved false, it A M TfT
0
She gave false
information to the insurance
company. Mfa #1
fit J A % [ft ^ 3^4 o o He used a false name
to get the job.
►
NOT NATURAL 2 not natural Aiglft;
fg HT1 artificial : false teeth/eyelashes [g 5f / !$ %
0 a false beard jg#]7 o note at artificial
►
NOT GENUINE 3 not genuine, but
made to look real
to cheat people a false passport fgfP ®
►
NOT SINCERE AMM 4 (of people’s
behaviour Af$fr:&)
not real or sincere A E A
“ (tfJ ; : false
modesty jg # J® 0 She
flashed him a false smile of congratulation. Mfa#,01f
WRONG/MISTAKEN 5 [usually before noun] wrong or mistaken,
because it is based on sth that is not true or
| 723 falsify
correct fg ^ [ft :
a
false
argument/assumption/belief o to give a false impression of wealth o to lull sb into a false sense of
security (= make sb feel
safe when they are really in danger) i^Af 0
They didn’t want to
raise any false hopes, but they believed her
husband had escaped capture, Ml# A11 it At.##
O Buying a cheap computer is a false economy (= will not
actually save you money). Sk
► NOT FAITHFUL 7 A A 6 (literary) (of people A) not
faithful A&&M; A&M67 a false lover A&MW1#A ► false-ly adv.: to
be falsely accused of sth 0
She smiled falsely at his joke. MtfrTT o IT»T71 by/under/on false pre tences by pretending to be
sth that you are not, in order to gain some advantage for yourself H & i£
A t£; IM & fix W it P : She was accused of
obtaining money under false pretences.
— more at ring2 v.
.false a larm noun a warning about a
danger that does not happen; a belief that sth bad is going to happen, when it
is not fgWfR; iftit The fire service was called out but it was
a false alarm. AM^fOEW/p
ttjzft,
{H&Jl«AWo
.false be'ginner noun a person who has a
basic knowledge of a language, but has started to study it again from the
beginning —
.false 'dawn noun [usually sing.] (format) a situation in which
you think that sth good is going to happen but it does not fix BI Tfc; jil £/ # M : a false dawn for the
economy
.false 'friend noun 1 a person who seems
to be your friend, but who is not loyal and cannot be trusted A& IMS2a word in a foreign language that looks
similar to a word in your own language, but has a different meaning ( Ifxlnl
iS| : The English word
‘sensible’ and the French word ‘sensible’ are false friends. sensible —
sensible
false hood /'foilshud/ noun (formal) 1 [U] the state of not being true; the act of telling a
lie i#i|t: to
test the truth or
falsehood of her claims M
$j 2 [C] a statement that
is not true A ^ A is]; it
.false im'prisonment noun [u] (law W) the crime of
illegally keeping sb as a prisoner somewhere A
mm-,
.false 'memory noun (psychology A') a memory of sth
that did not actually happen (
M ) #iEfZ
.false 'move noun [usually sing.] an
action that is not allowed or not recommended and that may cause a bad result ( ) AMtA,
A
One false move and the bomb might blow up. — ^ #
false rib noun = FLOATING RIB
.false 'start noun 1 an attempt to begin sth that is not successful After a number of
false starts, she finally
found a job she liked.
7/1$:, 2 (sport m a situ
ation when sb taking part
in a race starts before the official signal has been given
.false 'teeth noun [pi.] a set of
artificial teeth used by sb who has lost their natural teeth (
H g!] $] ) (&/r — compare dentures
fal-set-tist /foil'setist/ noun (music W) a male singer who
sings falsetto 0
falsetto /foil'seteu; NAmE -tou/ noun (pi. -os) an unusually high
voice, especially the voice that men use to sing very high notes ( ) (UP
fal sies /'failsiz/ noun [pi.] (informat) pieces of material
used inside a bra to make a
woman’s breasts seem larger MI&XH
fals ify /'foilsifai/ verb (fal-si-fies,
fal-si-fy-ing, fal-si-fied, fal-si-fied) [VN] to change a
written record or informa-