false note
1
6.9
- noun
- /fɔls noʊt/
:
nota discordante
- I was sorry to hear a false note in Olga's voice.
- struck a false note
- hear a false note
- single false note
But it's always like it's so well curated and I've, you know, I have yet to see somebody that strikes a false note.
- But it's always like it's so well curated and I've, you know, I have yet to see somebody that strikes a false note.
Examples
-
He had heard no false note in it.
Fiction book (1993) -
As much as I read, I can say up front that I found no false notes or glibness in this book and found many nuggets that were new to me.
Blog text (34) -
If you put them in at the wrong time, they're going to strike a false note.
Blog text (16) -
But I want to avoid truly egregious false notes.
Blog text (18) -
But it’s not only how she looks; she has to play to her audience without hitting any false notes.
Fiction book (1996) -
She struck false notes on the pianoforte, the keys of which the air's moistness had swollen from tune.
Fiction book (1996) -
In "Ivy Day" too, the reference to "Freedom's reign" one day in Erin sounds a false note coming so soon after the dull compulsion of the characters' present and their mystified view of the past.
Academic text (1991) -
I have never heard the human voice before, and any new and strange sound intruding itself here upon the solemn hush of these dreaming solitudes offends my ear and seems a false note.
Fiction book (1999) -
The musician played perfectly, without a single false note throughout the concert.
-
In her critique of the play, she pointed out one false note that disrupted the emotional impact.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
A wrong action or decision
2
5.6
A wrong action or decision that hurts progress
A sound not in tune or a remark that feels out of place
A wrong setting of a machine or musical instrument
How Disruptive
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derivable from 'false' (wrong, off) + 'note' (a musical pitch), so a learner who knows both words will understand it as an off‑pitch sound or mistake. The figurative use (a discordant or inappropriate element in a performance or conversation) follows transparently from the literal musical metaphor and is cross‑linguistically predictable.
Etymology
False note comes from music: a false or wrong note is a single sound that does not fit with the other sounds. That's why people call a line, action, or moment that feels wrong or spoils the effect a false note, meaning 'a mistake' or 'something that does not fit'.