40 Synonyms for Lie

by Mark Nichol

Humans may not be the only species capable of deception, but were probably the most sophisticated animals when it comes to lying, and our languages contain many words to describe variations of untruth. Heres a roster of synonyms in English for referring to lies and similar creations: 1. Bluff: a statement intended to deceive or confuse 2. Canard: an unsubstantiated story or report 3. Deceit: a deceptive statement 4. Deception: A statement or action intended to mislead 5. Distortion: a deviation from the true meaning, or an overstatement of proportion 6. Equivocation: a misleading or confusing statement based on the possibility of differing interpretations 7. Exaggeration: an overstatement or overemphasis 8. Fable: a fictitious statement or story, in the sense of something made up to explain or justify an unmerited action or state of affairs 9. Fabrication: a made-up fact or incident 10. Fairy tale: a misleading story, especially a simplistic one that would not be expected to deceive anyone 11. Fallacy: a deceptive or erroneous statement; also, a false idea or a flawed argument 12. Falsehood: something untrue or inaccurate 13. Falsification: an alteration of facts in order to deceive 14. Falsity (see falsehood) 15. Fib: a simple, perhaps transparent lie 16. Fiction: an invented statement or story 17. Half-truth: a statement with some basis in truth that nevertheless serves to deceive 18. Humbug: a false, deceptive, or nonsensical statement 19. Invention: a statement crafted to deceive 20. Jive: a deceptive, insincere, or nonsensical statement 21. Libel: a written or similarly presented lie that defames a person 23. Mendacity: an act of lying 23. Misconception: a poor understanding, perhaps deliberate, of a fact 24. Misinformation: a purported fact presented with the intent to deceive 25. Misinterpretation: a deviation from the facts or from a reasonable analysis of them 26. Misreport: an inaccurate account 27. Misrepresentation: an erroneous or unfair interpretation of facts 28. Misstatement: an inaccurate or erroneous comment 29. Myth: a perpetuated notion, belief, or tradition that is suspect or unfounded 30. Obliquity: a deviation from the truth to obscure or confuse 31. Perjury: a lie presented under oath 32. Pose: a false or deceptive position or self-representation 33. Pretense: an unsupported claim, an insincere purpose or intention, or a superficial effort 34. Prevarication: a deviation from the truth 35. Slander: an injuriously false statement about a person 36. Story: a lie, or a rumor

37. Tale: a false representation 38. Taradiddle: nonsense (also, see fib) 39. Untruth: a deviation from truth or the facts 40. Whopper: an outsized lie