false clue
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Ackroyd equates a MacGuffin with a red herring, which means almost the opposite: a false clue.
From Washington Post • Oct. 19, 2016
You may think the scene is some kind of a MacGuffin, a false clue, but it isn't.
From Seattle Times • Jun. 29, 2012
That, too, could be a false clue, since everything Nicholson does can be attributed to psychosis, to a weakened mind placed under intolerable pressure by isolation.
From Time Magazine Archive
“A false clue, Hurst,” said the King gruffly.
From The King's Esquires The Jewel of France by Fenn, George Manville
And when the men of Chiburi were questioned they invented a story, and gave to the enemies of the emperor a false clue to follow.
From Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan Second Series by Hearn, Lafcadio
