Word.ws English Dictionary

ringing false

ringing false is the present participle and gerund of ring false.

Meaning of ring false

Verb

ring false (third-person singular simple present rings false, present participle ringing false, simple past rang false, past participle rung false)

  1. (idiomatic) To seem to be incorrect, or implausible.
    • His excuse about his car breaking down again rings false to me.
    Synonyms:
    ring hollow
    Antonyms:
    ring true

Questions about ringing false

What is ringing false the present participle and gerund of?
Ringing false is the present participle and gerund of ring false.

Words near ringing false in the dictionary

  1. ringing around
  2. ringing back
  3. ringing down the curtain
  4. ringing engine
  5. ringing engines
  6. ringing false
  7. ringing hollow
  8. ringing in
  9. ringing off
  10. ringing off the hook
  11. ringing one's bell

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ringing false (page history and authors); ring false (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “ringing false.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ringing_false. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.