plausible but false

born out of wedlock

intended to deceive

a correlation between two variables (e.g., between the number of electric motors in the home and grades at school) that does not result from any direct relation between them (buying electric motors will not raise grades) but from their relation to other variables

tuft of small stiff feathers on the first digit of a bird's wing

in a false and spurious manner

state of lacking genuineness