false equivalence
2
8.6
- noun
- /fɔls ɪˈkwɪvələns/
- Literature
:
falsa equivalencia
- Your argument is predicated upon a false equivalence that the two groups have an inherently equal standing.
Examples
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Secondly, there's a note of false equivalence.
Blog text (13) -
The term "false equivalence" fits here.
Blog text (8) -
To make that association is to create a false equivalence.
Blog text (22) -
You are presenting a false equivalence.
Blog text (1) -
That's a false equivalence and you know it.
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But I disagree with your gesture toward false equivalence at the end of this column.
Blog text (18) -
And correct me if I'm wrong, but I think there's a false equivalence here.
Blog text (33) -
Your argument is one of false equivalence, at least over the last 100 or so odd years, and demonstrably in our present.
Blog text (1) -
Hierarchies ≠ bureaucracies, so you're starting with a false equivalence.
Blog text (33) -
The politician's statement was criticized for presenting a false equivalence between the two completely different policies.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'false' (incorrect) qualifies 'equivalence' (sameness/value), yielding 'an equivalence that is not true' which a B1 learner who knows both words can infer. The adjective+noun formation follows a regular English pattern and the logic is cross-linguistically common, so the expression is transparent.
Etymology
False equivalence uses the words false and equivalence to paint a picture of a balance scale that wrongly shows two very different things as equal, like saying apples and oranges are the same. So it means a 'misleading' comparison that treats things as 'equivalent' when they are not.