1.false的基本意思是“错误的,不正确的”,即所想、所说、所做与事实或现实对立; 也可指“假的,伪造的”,强调与真品相像,看起来与真的一样; false引申还可指“不忠实的”,即貌似忠实,实而骗人的。
2.false一般用作定语,偶尔也可用作表语。
3.false可与定冠词或不定冠词连用。

用作定语
▲～+n.
The clown was wearing a false nose.小丑戴着一个假鼻子。
He was here on some secret errand with a false passport.他用一个假护照在这里干秘密工作。
There is a pirate ship under false colours on the sea.海上有一艘挂着假冒旗帜的海盗船在航行。
He will not bear false witness against anyone.他不愿对任何人做假见证。
Better an open enemy than a false friend.公开的敌人要比虚假朋友好。
用作表语
▲S+be+～
A whale is a fish.True or false?鲸鱼是一种鱼,对不对?

false, artificial, counterfeit, fake, sham
这组词的共同意思是“假的”。其区别是:false说明某物与真品相像,着重于“看起来与真的不一样”,不一定具有“冒充、欺骗”之义; counterfeit着重于冒充真的,并含有欺骗之义; artificial着重于“人造的,人为的”,也可引申指“不自然的”; fake指假造或冒充的(物或人); sham往往指通过比较明显的仿造或伪善行为来进行欺骗。例如:
Her false diamonds look like real ones.她的假钻石饰物看起来像真的一样。
The peddler sold me a counterfeit coin.这个小贩卖给我的是假币。
This is an artificial flower.这是一朵人造花。
What he says is all sham sympathy.他说的那一套统统是假装同情而已。
Beware of those who sell fake medicines.谨防贩卖假药者。

false, wrong
false的语义较wrong更强并含有“欺骗”的意味。

他因拥有大量假钞而被拘捕。
［误］  He was arrested on charges of possessing a huge amount of false money.
［正］  He was arrested on charges of possessing a huge amount of counterfeit money.
［析］  “假钞票”在英语中是counterfeit money, counterfeit banknotes(伪造的纸币)和spurious coins(伪造的硬币)。

［同义词］   artificial, counterfactual, erroneous, fake, inaccurate, incorrect, unreal, untrue, wrong
［反义词］   accurate, authentic, genuine, real, true
［词源］  ＜古英语fals ＜拉丁语falsus(假,骗)