spurious
/ˈspjʊɹ.i.əs/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.96 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Extraneous, stray; not relevant or wanted.
Example Sentences
- "His argument was spurious and had no validity."
- "We witness that there is a relationship between government, media and industry that is evident even at this most spurious and superficial level. These three institutions support one another. We know that however cool a media outlet may purport to be, their primary loyalty is to their corporate backers. We know also that you cannot criticise the corporate backers openly without censorship and subsequent manipulation of this information."
- "[Ilhan] Omar was left twisting in the wind earlier this year after facing spurious charges of antisemitism, a display of Democratic cowardice co-signed by Chelsea Clinton, Chuck Schumer, and most every other Democrat with a congressional leadership position."
- "I tried to concentrate on the matter in hand, but spurious thoughts kept intruding."
- "Spurious emissions from the wireless mast were causing nearby electrical equipment to go haywire."
- "[…] who alſo in her prime of love, Spouſal embraces, vitiated with Gold, Though offer’d only, by the ſent conceiv’d Her ſpurious firſt-born; Treaſon againſt me?"
Etymology
Borrowed from Late Latin spurius (“illegitimate, bastardly”), possibly related to sperno or from Etruscan.
Word Breakdown
- Root: spurius, -
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈspjʊɹ.i.əs/
- British English: /ˈspjʊə.ɹi.əs/
Usage
Inflected Forms
more spurious (comparative)
most spurious (superlative)