See false flag in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
Download JSON data for false flag meaning in English (7.5kB)
{
"forms": [
{
"form": "false flags",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "false flag (plural false flags)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Nautical",
"orig": "en:Nautical",
"parents": [
"Transport",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"_dis": "36 40 24",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A ruse, in the days of sail, in which an attacking ship would fly the colours of its enemy until close enough to open fire."
],
"id": "en-false_flag-en-noun-Uc02slWw",
"links": [
[
"nautical",
"nautical"
],
[
"ruse",
"ruse"
],
[
"enemy",
"enemy"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(nautical) A ruse, in the days of sail, in which an attacking ship would fly the colours of its enemy until close enough to open fire."
],
"topics": [
"nautical",
"transport"
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Espionage",
"orig": "en:Espionage",
"parents": [
"Deception",
"Secrecy",
"Security",
"Ethics",
"Human behaviour",
"Society",
"Philosophy",
"Human",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Military",
"orig": "en:Military",
"parents": [
"Society",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Politics",
"orig": "en:Politics",
"parents": [
"Society",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"_dis": "36 40 24",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1996 December, David Johnston, “F.B.I. Supervisor Charged With Spying for Russians”, in The New York Times",
"text": "Using what the bureau calls a \"False Flag\" operation, F.B.I. agents posing as Russian intelligence officers contacted Mr. Pitts in August 1995, long after it believed he had ceased his spying activities, and feigned interest in reactivating him as a means of confirming his spying activities and determining how much information he may have provided to Moscow.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2023 May 4, Jonathan Yerushalmy, Pjotr Sauer, “False flag or genuine attack? What we know about the Kremlin drone incident”, in The Guardian, →ISSN",
"text": "The US has made noncommittal statements so far. Meanwhile, many experts on Russia have raised the possibility that the strike could have been a false-flag operation from Moscow.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A diversionary or propaganda tactic of deceiving an adversary into thinking that an operation was carried out by another party."
],
"id": "en-false_flag-en-noun-FMYt02Bp",
"links": [
[
"espionage",
"espionage"
],
[
"military",
"military"
],
[
"politics",
"politics"
],
[
"diversionary",
"diversionary"
],
[
"propaganda",
"propaganda"
],
[
"tactic",
"tactic"
],
[
"deceiving",
"deceive"
],
[
"adversary",
"adversary"
],
[
"operation",
"operation"
],
[
"carried out",
"carry out"
],
[
"party",
"party"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(espionage, military, politics) A diversionary or propaganda tactic of deceiving an adversary into thinking that an operation was carried out by another party."
],
"topics": [
"espionage",
"government",
"military",
"politics",
"war"
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "17 83",
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"sense": "a deception tactic",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "bandera falsa"
},
{
"_dis1": "17 83",
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "a deception tactic",
"word": "徦旗戰術"
},
{
"_dis1": "17 83",
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "jiǎqí zhànshù",
"sense": "a deception tactic",
"word": "徦旗战术"
},
{
"_dis1": "17 83",
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "a deception tactic",
"word": "lavastettu hyökkäys"
},
{
"_dis1": "17 83",
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "a deception tactic",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "opération sous faux drapeau"
},
{
"_dis1": "17 83",
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "a deception tactic",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "opération sous fausse bannière"
},
{
"_dis1": "17 83",
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "a deception tactic",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "opération sous faux pavillon"
},
{
"_dis1": "17 83",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "a deception tactic",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "falsche Flagge"
},
{
"_dis1": "17 83",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "nisehata sakusen",
"sense": "a deception tactic",
"word": "偽旗作戦"
},
{
"_dis1": "17 83",
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"note": "not used in Polish",
"sense": "a deception tactic"
},
{
"_dis1": "17 83",
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "a deception tactic",
"tags": [
"common-gender"
],
"word": "falsk flagg"
},
{
"_dis1": "17 83",
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "a deception tactic",
"tags": [
"common-gender"
],
"word": "falsk flagga"
},
{
"_dis1": "17 83",
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "a deception tactic",
"word": "sahte bayrak"
}
]
}
],
"word": "false flag"
}
{
"forms": [
{
"form": "false flags",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "false flagging",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "false flagged",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "false flagged",
"tags": [
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "++"
},
"expansion": "false flag (third-person singular simple present false flags, present participle false flagging, simple past and past participle false flagged)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "36 40 24",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"derived": [
{
"word": "false flagger"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1992, Steven Hartov, The Heat of Ramadan, page 424",
"text": "He instinctively false-flagged Arthur's information. There was no reason to expose the CIA or one of its deep-cover agents.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1996, John Laffin, Brassey's Book of Espionage, page 16",
"text": "Some of its best agents have been Arabs false-flagged to believe that they were being paid by some other country or alliance.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1997, James H. Cobb, Sea Strike, page 28",
"text": "We were false-flagged, sir. Obviously the Nationalists and the UDFC",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2010, Keith Thomson, Once a Spy: A Novel, page 182",
"text": "\"Are you sure your orders came from Hen?\"\n\"You're suggesting I was false flagged?\"\n\"That 'Stop Duck Hunting!' ad could have been placed by anyone with a passing knowledge of our simple letter-drop cipher.\"",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2011, Mike Scott, Great American Youth: A True Saga, page 19",
"text": "Lil Jason said that they almost snagged them after he had false-flagged, using fraudulent hand signs. Centuries ago Blackbeard the pirate false-flagged to entice lootful vessels to draw closer.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2013, Andrew Kaplan, Scorpion Deception, page 23",
"text": "Her family were Syrian Kurds from Aleppo, and Scale had false-flagged her by convincing her he was from the GSD, the Syrian internal security service.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To target with a false flag ruse."
],
"id": "en-false_flag-en-verb-QL1aqqqy",
"links": [
[
"false flag",
"#Noun"
],
[
"ruse",
"ruse"
]
],
"related": [
{
"word": "agent provocateur"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"_dis1": "0 0 100",
"word": "false-flag"
}
]
}
],
"word": "false flag"
}
{
"categories": [
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English nouns",
"English verbs"
],
"forms": [
{
"form": "false flags",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "false flag (plural false flags)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"en:Nautical"
],
"glosses": [
"A ruse, in the days of sail, in which an attacking ship would fly the colours of its enemy until close enough to open fire."
],
"links": [
[
"nautical",
"nautical"
],
[
"ruse",
"ruse"
],
[
"enemy",
"enemy"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(nautical) A ruse, in the days of sail, in which an attacking ship would fly the colours of its enemy until close enough to open fire."
],
"topics": [
"nautical",
"transport"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations",
"en:Espionage",
"en:Military",
"en:Politics"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1996 December, David Johnston, “F.B.I. Supervisor Charged With Spying for Russians”, in The New York Times",
"text": "Using what the bureau calls a \"False Flag\" operation, F.B.I. agents posing as Russian intelligence officers contacted Mr. Pitts in August 1995, long after it believed he had ceased his spying activities, and feigned interest in reactivating him as a means of confirming his spying activities and determining how much information he may have provided to Moscow.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2023 May 4, Jonathan Yerushalmy, Pjotr Sauer, “False flag or genuine attack? What we know about the Kremlin drone incident”, in The Guardian, →ISSN",
"text": "The US has made noncommittal statements so far. Meanwhile, many experts on Russia have raised the possibility that the strike could have been a false-flag operation from Moscow.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A diversionary or propaganda tactic of deceiving an adversary into thinking that an operation was carried out by another party."
],
"links": [
[
"espionage",
"espionage"
],
[
"military",
"military"
],
[
"politics",
"politics"
],
[
"diversionary",
"diversionary"
],
[
"propaganda",
"propaganda"
],
[
"tactic",
"tactic"
],
[
"deceiving",
"deceive"
],
[
"adversary",
"adversary"
],
[
"operation",
"operation"
],
[
"carried out",
"carry out"
],
[
"party",
"party"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(espionage, military, politics) A diversionary or propaganda tactic of deceiving an adversary into thinking that an operation was carried out by another party."
],
"topics": [
"espionage",
"government",
"military",
"politics",
"war"
]
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "false-flag"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"sense": "a deception tactic",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "bandera falsa"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "a deception tactic",
"word": "徦旗戰術"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "jiǎqí zhànshù",
"sense": "a deception tactic",
"word": "徦旗战术"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "a deception tactic",
"word": "lavastettu hyökkäys"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "a deception tactic",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "opération sous faux drapeau"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "a deception tactic",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "opération sous fausse bannière"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "a deception tactic",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "opération sous faux pavillon"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "a deception tactic",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "falsche Flagge"
},
{
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "nisehata sakusen",
"sense": "a deception tactic",
"word": "偽旗作戦"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"note": "not used in Polish",
"sense": "a deception tactic"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "a deception tactic",
"tags": [
"common-gender"
],
"word": "falsk flagg"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "a deception tactic",
"tags": [
"common-gender"
],
"word": "falsk flagga"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "a deception tactic",
"word": "sahte bayrak"
}
],
"word": "false flag"
}
{
"categories": [
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English nouns",
"English verbs"
],
"derived": [
{
"word": "false flagger"
}
],
"forms": [
{
"form": "false flags",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "false flagging",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "false flagged",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "false flagged",
"tags": [
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "++"
},
"expansion": "false flag (third-person singular simple present false flags, present participle false flagging, simple past and past participle false flagged)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"related": [
{
"word": "agent provocateur"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations",
"Quotation templates to be cleaned"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1992, Steven Hartov, The Heat of Ramadan, page 424",
"text": "He instinctively false-flagged Arthur's information. There was no reason to expose the CIA or one of its deep-cover agents.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1996, John Laffin, Brassey's Book of Espionage, page 16",
"text": "Some of its best agents have been Arabs false-flagged to believe that they were being paid by some other country or alliance.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1997, James H. Cobb, Sea Strike, page 28",
"text": "We were false-flagged, sir. Obviously the Nationalists and the UDFC",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2010, Keith Thomson, Once a Spy: A Novel, page 182",
"text": "\"Are you sure your orders came from Hen?\"\n\"You're suggesting I was false flagged?\"\n\"That 'Stop Duck Hunting!' ad could have been placed by anyone with a passing knowledge of our simple letter-drop cipher.\"",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2011, Mike Scott, Great American Youth: A True Saga, page 19",
"text": "Lil Jason said that they almost snagged them after he had false-flagged, using fraudulent hand signs. Centuries ago Blackbeard the pirate false-flagged to entice lootful vessels to draw closer.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2013, Andrew Kaplan, Scorpion Deception, page 23",
"text": "Her family were Syrian Kurds from Aleppo, and Scale had false-flagged her by convincing her he was from the GSD, the Syrian internal security service.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To target with a false flag ruse."
],
"links": [
[
"false flag",
"#Noun"
],
[
"ruse",
"ruse"
]
]
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "false-flag"
}
],
"word": "false flag"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-26 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (93a6c53 and 21a9316). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.