spurious

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin spurius (“illegitimate, bastardly”), possibly related to sperno or from Etruscan.

adj

  1. False, not authentic, not genuine.
    His argument was spurious and had no validity.
    [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. 2019-7-19, Noah Kulwin, “Democrats Fail the Left, Once Again”, in Jewish Currents, archived from the original on 2023-04-26
  2. Extraneous, stray; not relevant or wanted.
    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.
  3. (archaic) Bastardly, illegitimate.

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