Meaning & use
false hope
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Meaning
noununcountable
a hope that has no real basis because the thing wished for is very unlikely or impossible.
Grammar: Usually uncountable: do not give her false hope; the plural false hopes also occurs.
Patterns
- give someone false hope
- raise false hope
- cling to false hope
The doctor did not want to give the family false hope.
Telling him the job was certain only raised false hope.
She clung to false hope for months after the search ended.
Word forms
| plural | false hopes |
|---|
Common combinations
- give someone false hope
- Don't give your sister false hope about the audition.
- raise false hope
- The rumor raised false hope among the workers.
- cling to false hope
- They clung to false hope even after the warnings.
- offer false hope
- Some adverts offer false hope to people in debt.
- nothing but false hope
- The plan was nothing but false hope.
Synonyms and how they differ
- illusion
- Illusion is a wrong belief of any kind, while false hope concerns an unlikely wish.
- pipe dream
- Pipe dream is informal and dismisses the idea as unrealistic, not as raising someone's expectations.
- wishful thinking
- Wishful thinking describes believing something because you want it to be true, which is the cause of false hope.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: false hope or false alarm?
false hope vs false alarm
A false alarm is a warning that turns out to be wrong, but false hope is an unrealistic expectation.
Practice
Complete the sentence: 'The salesman gave us ___ by promising the product would cure everything.'
Choose one answer.
False hope fits an unrealistic promise. The other options suggest something honest or well supported.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “false hope”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.