falsifiable

Word relationships

• testable: Testable is a broader term; falsifiable specifically means testable in a way that could prove it false.
• disprovable: Disprovable is a direct synonym, emphasizing the potential to be proven wrong.
• refutable: Refutable means capable of being disproven or contradicted.

• unfalsifiable: Not able to be proven false, often a characteristic of pseudoscientific claims.
• irrefutable: Impossible to deny or disprove.

Word family

• falsify (verb): To alter (information or evidence) so as to mislead; to prove (a statement or theory) to be false.
• falsification (noun): The act of falsifying; the action of proving a statement or theory to be false.

Collocations

• falsifiable hypothesis
• falsifiable theory
• empirically falsifiable

Example sentences

• "The claim that invisible, undetectable fairies cause good luck is not falsifiable, as no experiment could ever prove it wrong." A key criterion for a scientific hypothesis is that it must be falsifiable.
• "A truly scientific theory must be falsifiable; it must make predictions that, if not observed, would demonstrate the theory to be incorrect." Karl Popper argued that falsifiability distinguishes science from pseudoscience.

Memory hook

Imagine a 'FALSE' (falsifiable) alarm that can be proven wrong if no fire is found. It's testable. FALSE-able: Can be proven wrong.

When not to use

Do not use 'falsifiable' to mean 'false' or 'incorrect.' It describes a property of a statement (its testability), not its truth value. A statement can be falsifiable but still true.

Fun facts

• Karl Popper's criterion of falsifiability is one of the most influential ideas in the philosophy of science, offering a way to distinguish science from non-science.

Related words

hypothesis, theory, empirical

Explore more words

hypothesis, refute, experiment, skeptic, refutation, empirical

Also appears in

• Philosophy → Philosophy of Science