spuriosity

Noun

spuriosity (countable and uncountable, plural spuriosities)

1. (rare) Spuriousness.
   • Ye are next to aſſure all Perſons, vvho are ſo kind as to give you Audience, that to prevent the leaſt Suſpicion of Spurioſity, they may ſee every Letter I have ever printed of Mr. Pope’s in his Ovvn Hand-VVriting, […]1736, Alexander Pope, “To the Sisters”, in Mr Pope’s Literary Correspondence, volume IV, London: […] E[dmund] Curll, […], →OCLC, page iv
   • So she made Sir John write to the "Times" to command the Chancellor of the Exchequer for the time being to put a tax on long words:— […] A heavy tax on words over four syllables, as heterodoxy, spontaneity, spiritualism, spuriosity, &c.[1862 August – 1863 March, Charles Kingsley, chapter IV, in The Water-Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby, London; Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan and Co., published 1863, →OCLC, page 168

   Synonyms:

   falsity, inauthenticity

   Antonyms:

   authenticity, genuineness, truthfulness, veracity

2. (rare) That which is spurious; something false or illegitimate.
   • Nipper […] had abruptly decided that there was dirty work afoot and this spuriosity the villain. Uttering foolishly futile yaps of challenge—his sure undoing—Nipper heroically launched himself against the foe […]1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London
   • Haydn spuriosities were generated by demand for [Joseph] Haydn's works and by manuscript circulation. In genres like keyboard sonatas, piano trios and songs, where manuscript circulation was light, there were relatively few spuriosities.1983, John Spitzer, Authorship and Attribution in Western Art Music (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation), Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University, →OCLC, page 204