false positive
A 'false positive' occurs when a test or analysis incorrectly indicates the presence of a condition or attribute that is not actually present.
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Definition
B2General
An incorrect result that shows a condition or attribute is present when it is not.
Example
- The test showed a false positive, indicating an issue that wasn't there.
C1Medicine
(technical)A test result that wrongly indicates the presence of a disease or condition.
Example
- The patient received a false positive result for the disease, leading to unnecessary worry.
C1Statistics
(technical)An error where a test incorrectly suggests a significant effect or relationship.
Example
- In the experiment, a false positive indicated a correlation that didn't exist.
C1Computer Science
(technical)An incorrect identification of a legitimate action or file as malicious.
Example
- The antivirus software flagged a harmless file as a threat due to a false positive.
Similar
Terms that have similar or relatively close meanings to "false positive":