strike a false note
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.26 in modern English
23
Scrabble Score
16
Letters
2
Syllables
11
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To give the impression of being insincere, incongruous or inappropriate.
Example Sentences
- "But she crossed out “I do understand”; it struck a false note. Henry could not bear to be understood."
- "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."
- "He knew what stories to whisper and when not to tell stories at all and knew, too, when the business was over, never to make reference to what had been said. ¶ Put simply this was a man who had learned never to strike a false note."