From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishspuriousspu‧ri‧ous /ˈspjʊəriəs $ ˈspjʊr-/ adjective 1 WRONG/INCORRECTa spurious statement, argument etc is not based on facts or good thinking and is likely to be incorrect He demolished the Opposition’s spurious arguments.► see thesaurus at false2 HONEST#insincere spurious sympathy —spuriously adverb —spuriousness noun [uncountable]
Examples from the Corpus
spurious• This authorisation could, of course, be spurious and be disguising condoned truancy.• Experiments involve a spurious association between the novel food and the illness which is usually induced chemically or by X-rays.• A jury has rejected the spurious claim that the police created evidence.• We now know that the strength of that original relationship contained a spurious component.• It is sensitive to slight movements of the camera, subject or reference strip and will sometimes trigger spurious diagnostics.• But for all the spurious emphasis on homogeneity, there are also moments when everyone becomes a gaijin, an outsider.• As a label it conveys a sense of purpose and purveys an often spurious impression of coherence and integrity in working relationships.• Because the novel is written mainly in dialogue, a spurious impression was given that it would be easy to adapt.• a spurious smile• Also it would permit additions, such as image processing, with a prospect of eliminating spurious subject material in software.Origin spurious (1500-1600) Late Latin spurius, from Latin (noun), “child of unmarried parents” 