lie#

lie vb Lie, prevaricate, equivocate, palter, fib mean to tell an untruth directly or indirectly.

Lie is the straightforward word, flatly imputing dishonesty to the speaker

{

he lies, and he knows he lies— Johnson

}

{

the article . . . has deliberately lied and distorted facts— Nation's Business

}

Prevaricate is often used in place of lie as a more formal or less offensive term; distinctively, it can imply evasion of the truth (as by quibbling, dodging the real point, or confusing the issue)

{

he could prevaricate no longer, and, confessing to the gambling, told her the truth— Hardy

}

{

"Even if it wos so, which I don't say it is"—"Don't prevaricate," said Mr. Lorry— Dickens

}

Equivocate implies saying one thing and meaning another; it usually suggests the use of words that carry more than one sense in the hope that the sense which gives the incorrect impression may be the one accepted by the hearer

{

by equivocating, hesitating, and giving ambiguous answers, she effected her purpose— Martineau

}

{

he was wholly in sympathy with Congregationalism, and had no mind to conceal or equivocate concerning its democratic tendencies— Parrington

}

Palter implies a playing fast and loose, not only in statements but in dealings; it often specifically implies prevarication, equivocation, or the making of promises one does not intend to keep

{

and be these juggling fiends no more believed that palter with us in a double sense—Shak.

}

{

Caroline, don't go back—don't palter with us—abide by your own words— Edgeworth

}

Fib (see also LIE n) may be used as a euphemism for lie, but it more often implies the telling of an untruth that is trivial either in matter or in significance

{

she was given to fibbing about her admirers

}

{

the child fibs when he thinks he can gain something by it

}

{

he didn't like Janet. She fibbed, he said, and was a telltale— G lasgow

}

Analogous words: *deceive, delude, mislead, beguile

lie n Lie, falsehood, untruth, fib, misrepresentation, story are comparable when they mean a statement or declaration that does not conform to the truth.

Lie is usually felt to be a term of extreme opprobrium because it implies a flat and unquestioned contradiction of the truth and deliberate intent to deceive or mislead

{

you told a lie; an odious, damned lie—Shak.

}

{

his decent reticence is branded as hypocrisy, his circumlocutions are roundly called lies— Maugham

}

Falsehood may be both less censorious than lie and wider in its range of application. The term need not imply sinfulness or criminality, for it applies not only to lies

{

told two flat falsehoods about what had happened in secret session— Davis

}

but to such fictions as literary fictions, polite fictions, and legal fictions and then contrasts most directly with fact

{

a man's entire life may be a falsehood, while with his lips he may not once directly falsify— F. N. Scott & J. V. Denney

}

Like lie, the term implies known nonconformity to the truth, but unlike lie, it does not invariably suggest a desire to pass off as true something known to be untrue

{

falsehoods which we spurn today were the truths of long ago— Whittier

}

Untruth is often euphemistic for lie or falsehood and may carry similar derogatory implications

{

his report was riddled with inaccuracies and untruths

}

or it may be selected because of mitigating circumstances

{

told you untruths yesterday morning merely to cheer you up— Bennett

}

Sometimes, however, untruth may apply to an untrue statement made as a result of ignorance or a mis-conception of the truth

{

so far as he knew he had never told an untruth

}

{

the traditions and the untruths our cultural fathers have sometimes told us — La Barre

}

Fib is an informal or childish term for a trivial falsehood; it is often applied to one told to save one's own or another's face

{

not that I couldn't tell a downright fib if I had to . . . but a lie is to me just as silly a performance when it is about marriage or work as about the law of gravitation- Mary Austin

}

{

the trade in drama seems to be prosecuted in a world of perfunctory fibs which no one believes— Montague

}

Misrepresentation applies to a misleading and usually an intentionally or deliberately misleading statement which gives an impression that is contrary to the truth; the term implies glossing over defects or weaknesses (as in something offered for sale) or placing the emphasis upon details that highlight a character, an occurrence, or a train of events rather than on those that in reality marked it

{

our guides deceived us with misrepresentations— Addison

}

{

his duty to further the interest of his client does not require him to employ any sort of trickery, chicane, deceit, or misrepresentation— Drinker

}

Story (see also ACCOUNT 2) in the sense relevant to this discussion is an informal term used chiefly by or with reference to children in place of any of the preceding terms, especially falsehood, untruth, and fib

{

boys who tell stories are likely to be caught

}

Analogous words: prevarication, equivocation, fibbing or fib (see corresponding verbs at LIE): mendaciousness or mendacity, untruthfulness, dishonesty, deceitfulness (see corresponding adjectives at DISHONEST)

Antonyms: truth

Contrasted words: veracity, verity, verisimilitude (see TRUTH)