Standard Lemma guide

forsooth

adv · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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  • General-American: /fɔɹˈsuθ/
  • General-American: fôr-sōōth′
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -uːθ

1

adv

Meaning 1

Used as an intensifier, often ironic: indeed, really, truthfully.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic, not-comparable, poetic

Examples

  • Near-synonyms: true that, facts

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: in point of fact, in truth, to tell the truth, above a bit, actually, all things considered, as a matter of fact, by right, certainly, come to think of it, de facto, definitely, de jure, fact is, forsooth, frankly, honestly, in actuality, in all honesty, indubitably, in fact, in faith, in reality, indeed, legitimately, literally, not gonna lie, properly, really, right, simply, soothfast, soothly, surely, to be frank, to be honest, TBH, truly, truthfully, undoubtedly, verily, very much, wis, true that, facts

Antonyms: none provided

2

adverb

Meaning 2

an archaic word originally meaning `in truth' but now usually used to express disbelief

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Middle English forsothe, forsoþe, for sothe, from Old English for sōþ (“truly, for certain, forsooth”), equivalent to for (“for, by”) + sooth (“truth”).

Across languages

Translations

20 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: наистина (naistina) — indeed, truthfully, really
  • Czech: věru — indeed, truthfully, really
  • Czech: vskutku — indeed, truthfully, really
  • Czech: namouduši — indeed, truthfully, really
  • Dutch: voorwaar waarlijk — indeed, truthfully, really
  • German: fürwahr — indeed, truthfully, really
  • Ido: vere — indeed, truthfully, really
  • Ido: certe — indeed, truthfully, really
  • Ido: ya — indeed, truthfully, really
  • Italian: in verità — indeed, truthfully, really
  • Italian: davvero — indeed, truthfully, really
  • Italian: seriamente — indeed, truthfully, really
  • Norwegian Bokmål: sannelig — indeed, truthfully, really
  • Polish: zaiste — indeed, truthfully, really
  • Russian: поистине (poistine) — indeed, truthfully, really
  • Spanish: veramente — indeed, truthfully, really
  • Spanish: en verdad — indeed, truthfully, really
  • Spanish: de vero — indeed, truthfully, really
  • Swedish: minsann — indeed, truthfully, really
  • Turkish: hakikaten — indeed, truthfully, really