false positive

noun

plural false positives

: a person or test result that is incorrectly classified as positive (as for the presence of a health condition) because of imperfect testing methods or procedures

A false positive—a test result indicative of disease that isn't actually present—can trigger a chain reaction of worry, further tests, and even unnecessary treatment.

—Harvard Health Letter

The quarantine could be lifted early if the lab confirms that the case was a false positive.

—Kathleen Moore

Perhaps more important, polygraph tests are notoriously unreliable. Scientists are understandably concerned about false positive results …

—Chemical & Engineering News

—often hyphenated when used before another noun

The technology could improve a radiologist's ability to detect breast cancers and it could lower the number of false-positive results …

—Laurie Tarken

compare false negative

Examples of false positive in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This results in fewer false positives or low-priority alerts. —John Pritchard, Forbes, 27 Nov. 2024

Like almost half the apps in the latest report, Norton dropped a whole point in the usability category due to false positives, for a total score of 17 points. —PCMAG, 27 Nov. 2024

Samsara’s Welbourne asserts that his company has good reason to be confident that its AI models are solid and will avoid false positives or false negatives that would diminish the tool’s usefulness to drivers and fleet operators. —IEEE Spectrum, 26 Nov. 2024

Fluctuating environmental patterns cause year-to-year differences Better knowledge and identification of symptoms may contribute to the increase, and manufacturing issues leading to false positives also play a role in the uptick. —Lauren De Young, The Arizona Republic, 15 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1912, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

false positive

noun

: a person or test result that is incorrectly classified as positive (as for the presence of a health condition) because of imperfect testing methods or procedures

Another problem with the test … is that it also produces a number of false positives; that is, a number of neonates with elevated trypsin levels the first time they are tested are found not to have elevated levels on the second test.

—The Journal of the American Medical Association

The urine dipstick test for protein can give false positive results when various pharmacologic agents and gross hematuria are present or when urine pH is high …

—Biff F. Palmer, Scientific American Medicine

—often hyphenated when used before another noun

… false-positive results that led healthy women to have unnecessary surgery.

—Denise Grady, The New York Times

The test can give false-positive readings, however, and it triggers a follow-up colonoscopy in 4% to 10% of cases.

—Marilyn Chase, The Wall Street Journal

compare false negative