noun
canard
KAN-ard/ˈkænɑːrd/
A false or unfounded story or claim.
The tabletop model exposes the circulating lake-monster story as a canard.
Etymology
French canard means both “duck” and “hoax.” Littré traced the deceptive sense to “half-selling a duck,” an expression for cheating, perhaps based on a forgotten joke.
In context
This is why woke politics has become such a useful canard for people of all political persuasions
More examples
- She exposed the claim as a malicious canard.
- That old canard continues to circulate online.
- The historian challenged several persistent canards about the event.
Forms
canard · canards
Similar words
- rumor
- An unverified report that may be true, while canard identifies it as false or unfounded.