Language: en
Meaning: (idiomatic)To give theimpressionof beinginsincere,incongruousorinappropriate.1910,E. M. Forster, chapter 28, inHowards End[1], New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, page293:But she crossed out “I do understand”; itstruck a false note. Henry could not bear to be understood.1960,Ian Fleming, “From a View To a Kill”, inFor Your Eyes Only[2], London: Jonathan Cape:He dressed in a mannered fashion with turned-back cuffs and double slits to his coat, bow-ties and fancy waistcoats. He made a good-living, wine-and-food-society impression in which only the slow, rather cunning blue eyesstruck a false note.2000,Alan Bennett, “The Laying On of Hands”, inThe Laying On of Hands: Stories[3], New York: Picador, published2002, page71:He knew what stories to whisper and when not to tell stories at all and knew, too, when the business was over, never to make reference to what had been said. ¶ Put simply this was a man who had learned never tostrike a false note.
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