strike a false note

Verb

strike a false note (third-person singular simple present strikes a false note, present participle striking a false note, simple past and past participle struck a false note)

1. (idiomatic) To give the impression of being insincere, incongruous or inappropriate.
   • But she crossed out “I do understand”; it struck a false note. Henry could not bear to be understood.1910, E. M. Forster, chapter 28, in Howards End, New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, page 293
   • He dressed in a mannered fashion with turned-back cuffs and double slits to his coat, bow-ties and fancy waistcoats. He made a good-living, wine-and-food-society impression in which only the slow, rather cunning blue eyes struck a false note.1960, Ian Fleming, “From a View To a Kill”, in For Your Eyes Only, London: Jonathan Cape

   Synonyms:

   hit a false note