lie

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

v. i. prevaricate, falsify, deceive; recline, rest, be situated; extend.

See falsehood, deception, location, horizontal. Ant., fact, truth.

- lie detector

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [An intentional misstatement]

Syn. falsehood, untruth, fib, fiction, hyperbole, fraudulence, inaccuracy, misstatement, myth, fable, deceptiveness, disinformation, barefaced lie, dirty lie, misrepresentation, inoperative statement, lying, untruthfulness, prevarication, mendacity, falsification, falseness, falsifying, subterfuge, defamation, detraction, tale, story, tall story, cock-and-bull story, calumny, fabrication, deception, slander, backbiting, calumniation, aspersion, revilement, untruism, vilification, reviling, false swearing, perjury, libel, forgery, distortion, obloquy, garbled version, guile, white lie, corker*, fish story*, lollapalooza*, whopper*, cock and bull*, crock*, moonshine*, hogwash*; see also dishonesty .

Ant. truth*, veracity, truthfulness.

2. [Anything calculated to mislead another]

Syn. falsification, evasion, deceit; see deception 1 , trick 1 .

• give the lie to,

Syn. dispute, belie, prove false; see disprove .

v.

1. [To utter an untruth]

Syn. falsify, prevaricate, fib, tell a lie, equivocate, fabricate, deceive, mislead, misinform, misrepresent, exaggerate, distort, misstate, misspeak, concoct, tell a falsehood, be untruthful, forswear, be a liar, dupe, pervert, slant, twist, overstate, embellish, embroider, overdraw, bear false witness, say one thing and mean another, dissimulate, dissemble, perjure oneself, delude, malign, invent, manufacture, make up, trump up, palter, beguile, tell a white lie, stretch the truth, spin a long yarn*, bull*, make out of whole cloth*.

2. [To be situated]

Syn. extend, be on, be beside, be located, be fixed, be established, be placed, be seated, be set, be level, be smooth, be even, be plane, exist in space, prevail, endure, stretch along, reach along, spread along; see also occupy 2 .

3. [To be prostrate]

Syn. be recumbent, be helpless, be supine, be exhausted, be flat, be prone, sprawl, loll, laze, be stretched out, be powerless, be thrown down; see also sense 4, rest 2 .

Ant. stand*, be upright, sit.

4. [To assume a prostrate position]

Syn. lie down, recline, repose, stretch out, couch, go to bed, turn in, retire, take a nap, take a siesta, hit the hay*; see also rest 1 , sleep .

Ant. rise*, get up, arise.

• take lying down,

Syn. submit, surrender, be passive; see yield 1 .

Syn.- lie is the simple direct word meaning to make a deliberately false statement; prevaricate strictly means to quibble or confuse the issue in order to evade the truth, but it is loosely used as a formal or affected substitute for lie ; equivocate implies the deliberate use of ambiguity in order to deceive or mislead; fabricate suggests the invention of a false story, excuse, etc. intended to deceive but may be somewhat softer in connotation than lie ; fib implies the telling of a falsehood about something unimportant and is sometimes a euphemism for lie

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus)

I

n.

prevarication, fabrication, fib, falsehood, story, *cock-and-bull story, little white lie, *whopper, untruth, perjury, fiction, deceit, misrepresentation, distortion, stretching of the truth, barefaced lie. ''The refuse of fools and cowards.''—Lord Chesterfield. ''An art in a lover.''—Helen Rowland.

ANT.: truth, gospel truth, fact

II

v.

1. prevaricate fabricate, fib, falsify, *tell a little white lie, perjure, deceive, misrepresent, distort, stretch the truth, fudge, con.

2. rest recline, stretch out, be recumbent, be prone, be supine, sprawl, lounge.

ANT.: 2. stand

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) verb To make untrue declarations: falsify, fib, forswear, prevaricate. Law: perjure. See TRUE.

V

(Roget's Thesaurus II) verb 1. To be or place oneself in a prostrate or recumbent position. Also used with down: recline, repose, stretch (out). See HORIZONTAL. 2. To take repose, as by sleeping or lying quietly. Also used with down: recline, repose, rest1, stretch (out). See CONTINUE. 3. To have an inherent basis: consist, dwell, exist, inhere, repose, reside, rest1. See START.

VI

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun An untrue declaration: canard, cock-and-bull story, falsehood, falsity, fib, fiction, inveracity, misrepresentation, misstatement, prevarication, story, tale, untruth. Informal: fish story, tall tale. Slang: whopper. See TRUE.