Make Your Point > Archived Issues > FALSIFIABLE
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If you put your argument or your hypothesis in falsifiable terms, thank you!
You're being clear. You're not being ca__y (sly or evasive). You're being ab___boa__ (honest, not sneaky, not underhanded). You're arguing in good faith. And you're finding the truth, not proving a presumption.
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"FALSIFIABLE"
To falsify something is to make it false. You can falsify something by faking it, by doctoring it or tampering with it, or--here's the meaning we care about the most--by proving that it really is false. For example, to falsify a theory is to prove that the theory is wrong.
(Now, you can call something "falsifiable" and mean "able to be faked, or able to be doctored or tampered with," as in "falsifiable documents presented in court." But that's not the meaning we're focused on.)
Something falsifiable, like a claim or theory, is expressed in a way that makes it able to be proven false if it is false, and that's a good thing, because that means we're able to test it and discover what's true and what's not true.
Unfalsifiable things (which tend to be sloppy, vague, unrealistic, meaningless, inconsistent, or based on opinion) are unable to be proven true or false, which is often a bad thing, because we can't test them in our search for truth.
Pronunciation:
FALL siff EYE uh bull
Part of speech:
Adjective: "a falsifiable claim," "their theory is falsifiable."
Other forms:
Falsify, falsified, falsifying;
falsifiability;
unfalsifiable, unfalsifiability.
(Whoa, there: "unfalsifiability" is quite the mouthful. If you draw the line at eight-syllable words, say "untestability" or "failure to be falsifiable.")
How to use it:
"Falsifiable" has a positive, scientific tone.
Talk about falsifiable (or unfalsifiable) ideas, theories, hypotheses, predictions, models, arguments, claims, assertions, statements, accounts, histories, etc.
If there's a way to prove that something is wrong--regardless of whether it is wrong or not--you can call it falsifiable.
examples:
I'd love to see horoscopes offer falsifiable predictions: "Next Thursday you'll find a valuable Target coupon in the mail." "Late this month you'll watch a YouTube hairstyle tutorial that jazzes you up, but it won't work on your hair type; also, you'll let your Target coupon expire."
The documentary Behind the Curve, directed by Daniel J. Clark, shows conspiracy theorists setting up nice neat experiments to test their falsifiable theory about the earth being flat--and yet, when the experiment falsifies the theory, the theorists remain unconvinced. (I laugh, yet it's disturbing, isn't it?)
"Brainwashing is used so frequently to describe religious conversions that it has a certain panache to it, as if it were based in scientific theory... But... to be considered scientifically credible, it must be falsifiable... Since we cannot really prove that brainwashing does not exist, it fails to meet the standard criteria of the scientific method."
— Rebecca Moore, Salon, 22 July 2018
has this page helped you understand "falsifiable"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "falsifiable" without saying "testable" or "able to be disproved."
try it out:
Fill in the blanks: "(Offer an opinion or a judgment.) In falsifiable terms, _____."
Example: "Her lyrics are awful. In falsifiable terms, they could have been written by robot with a faulty sense of rhyme and the lexicon of a third grader."
before you review, play:
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
Quintessential TV Quotes!
Each day, match the given vocabulary word to the quote that best illustrates it.
From the previous issue:
From Gilmore Girls, which quote below illustrates someone being tawdry?
Quote A:
Lorelai: And keep in mind that getting up on a table and performing a song of any kind will haunt you for the rest of your life. Trust me. Been there, done that.
Rory: I wasn't planning on doing that.
Lorelai: Hun, those things are never planned.
Quote B:
Rory: If I had known sports were so much about eating, I would’ve come to a lot more of these.
Lane: I know. There’s something deeply satisfying about watching other people exercise while eating junk food.
Quote C:
Lorelai: I'm just afraid if we don't answer everything accurately, the Harvard police will come and hit you with an atlas and say something mean in Latin.
Answer: In quote A, Lorelai recalls climbing onto a table to belt out a song, a tawdry move if there ever was one.
Try this one today:
From Firefly, which quote below illustrates a beau monde?
Quote A:
Kaylee: Didja see the chandelier? It's hovering. ... Ooh, pineapples! ... Don't you love this party? Everything's so fancy and there's some kind of hot cheese over there.
Quote B:
River: They weren't cows inside. They were waiting to be, but they forgot. Now they see sky, and they remember what they are.
Mal: Is it bad that what she said made perfect sense to me?
Quote C:
Young River: We got outflanked by the Independent squad, and we're never gonna make it back to our platoon. [pauses] We need to resort to cannibalism.
Young Simon: That was fast. Don't we have rations or anything?
review today's word:
1. The exact opposite of FALSIFIABLE is UNFALSIFIABLE.
But a close opposite of FALSIFIABLE is
A. IMPURE.
B. UNTESTABLE.
C. NON-DISCRIMINATORY.
2. Falsifiable claims, wrote William Saletan for Slate, "stake the source's credibility...on something that can be _____."
A. investigated
B. kept anonymous
C. misconstrued as a joke
a final word:
Make Your Point is crafted with love and brought to you each weekday morning by Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From Liesl's blog:
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
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Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
If you put your argument or your hypothesis in falsifiable terms, thank you!
"FALSIFIABLE" To falsify something is to make it false. You can falsify something by faking it, by doctoring it or tampering with it, or--here's the meaning we care about the most--by proving that it really is false. For example, to falsify a theory is to prove that the theory is wrong.
I'd love to see horoscopes offer falsifiable predictions: "Next Thursday you'll find a valuable Target coupon in the mail." "Late this month you'll watch a YouTube hairstyle tutorial that jazzes you up, but it won't work on your hair type; also, you'll let your Target coupon expire."
Explain the meaning of "falsifiable" without saying "testable" or "able to be disproved."
Fill in the blanks: "(Offer an opinion or a judgment.) In falsifiable terms, _____."
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
1. The exact opposite of FALSIFIABLE is UNFALSIFIABLE.
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