spurious
Use Spurious in a sentence
i adjective
1.
not genuine, authentic, or true; not from the claimed, pretended, or proper source; counterfeit.
2.
Biology. (of two or more parts, plants, etc.) having a similar appearance but a different structure.
3.
of illegitimate birth; bastard.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To spurious
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Spurious
is a GRE word you need to know.
So is gossamer. Does it mean:
| a person who dedicates his or her life to a pursuit of contemplative ideals and practices extreme self-denial or self-mortification for religious reasons. |
| a fine, filmy cobweb seen on grass or bushes or floating in the air in calm weather; any thin, light fabric with this quality |
Collins
World English Dictionary
spurious (ˈspjʊərɪəs) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —adj | |
| 1. | not genuine or real |
| 2. | (of a plant part or organ) having the appearance of another part but differing from it in origin, development, or function; false: a spurious fruit |
| 3. | (of radiation) produced at an undesired frequency by a transmitter, causing interference, etc |
| 4. | rare illegitimate |
| [C17: from Latin spurius of illegitimate birth] | |
| 'spuriously | |
| —adv | |
| 'spuriousness | |
| —n | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
spurious
1598, "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 1601; that of "false, sham" is from 1615.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary
spurious spu·ri·ous (spy&oobreve;r'ē-əs)
adj.
Similar in appearance or symptoms but unrelated in morphology or pathology; false.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Example sentences
One of the myths about inoculation was that it did not produce a true smallpox in the patient but a spurious case of chicken pox.
Flight controllers suspected it was a spurious signal, but could not be sure.
Now here is a guy who wants to resurrect it because he spotted some spurious correlations.
The detector in the lidar is extremely sensitive and is easily upset by spurious currents.
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