false flag

noun

plural false flags
1
: a hostile or harmful action (such as an attack) that is designed to look like it was perpetrated by someone other than the person or group responsible for it
In case you didn't know, a false flag is an incident that is designed to deceive people into thinking it was actually carried out by someone else. Nick Giambruno
… ex-House of Commons clerk Eliot Wilson argues in an article for the paper that "it does not take the mind of a conspiracy theorist" to imagine that Downing Street may have been behind what now appears to have been a false flag. Joe Evans
often used before another noun
a false flag operation
false flag attacks
The false flag conspiracy theory circulated widely after the riot … Ted Sickinger
2
: a deliberate misrepresentation of motives or identity
Maybe more troublesome is the fact that a small percentage of sources were recruited under false flags or based on coercion. Nel Marais
also : something used to misrepresent motives or identity
The Russian hackers had attempted to blame North Korea, China and other adversaries as the culprit of those assaults through a series of false flags implanted in the malware that were designed to throw investigators off track. Cynthia Brumfield
"Craft" is a false flag, a depoliticization of art and thus an undermining of art's ability to change or even to question the status quo. Jonathan Dee
3
: a flag used to disguise the identity of something (such as a ship)

Examples of false flag in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Aster shoehorns all manner of hot-button topics: identity politics, social media silos, false flag attacks, and the allure of conspiracy theories, all facilitated by the wholesale erosion of truth in the digital age. Thomas Page, CNN Money, 17 May 2025 The false flag, the propaganda use of an inciting incident. Brian Hiatt, Rolling Stone, 14 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1569, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Time Traveler
The first known use of false flag was in 1569

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“False flag.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/false%20flag. Accessed 25 Jul. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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