fibbery
Practice of lying
Fibbery is the practice of telling fibs—small, harmless lies.
The word carries a playful or dismissive tone, treating dishonesty as minor mischief rather than serious deception: I won't stand for any more of this fibbery.
It suggests a pattern of petty untruths rather than a single lie.
Deliberately untrue statement
- falsehoodDeliberate untrue statement
- untruthA false statement
- whopperOutsized thing or untruth
- tall taleWildly exaggerated story
prevarication · invention · misrepresentation · falsification · canard · cock-and-bull story · fish story · stretcher
Sly, strategic dishonesty
- artificeClever deceptive strategy
- cunningSly, scheming cleverness
- trickeryDeliberate deception or fraud
- chicaneryDeception through clever manipulation
subterfuge · duplicity · craftiness · slyness · wiliness · scheming · skulduggery · underhandedness
Twisted strand for crafts
- taleSpoken or written narrative
- fableMoral tale with animals
- mythTraditional explanatory tale
- fictionImagined narrative work
fantasy · make-believe · embellishment · exaggeration · confabulation · tall story · shaggy-dog story · fairy tale
Ambiguous language avoiding commitment
- dissemblingConcealing true motives
- obfuscationDeliberate concealment through confusion
- misdirectionIntentional focus manipulation
- smokescreenConcealment through misdirection
spin · weasel words · hedging · dodging · sidestepping · double-talk · doublespeak · mealy-mouthed
fabrication
Deliberately untrue statement
tall tale · prevarication · invention · misrepresentation · falsification · canard · cock-and-bull story · fish story · stretcher · porky
guile
Sly, strategic dishonesty
- artificeClever deceptive strategy
- cunningSly, scheming cleverness
- trickeryDeliberate deception or fraud
chicanery · subterfuge · duplicity · craftiness · slyness · wiliness · scheming · skulduggery · underhandedness · connivance
yarn
Twisted strand for crafts
fiction · fantasy · make-believe · embellishment · exaggeration · confabulation · tall story · shaggy-dog story · fairy tale · cock-and-bull
equivocation
Ambiguous language avoiding commitment
- dissemblingConcealing true motives
- obfuscationDeliberate concealment through confusion
- misdirectionIntentional focus manipulation
smokescreen · spin · weasel words · hedging · dodging · sidestepping · double-talk · doublespeak · mealy-mouthed · circumlocution
fibberyhonesty
Truthfulness, sincerity
truthfulness · candor · veracity · sincerity · frankness
fibberyintegrity
Moral soundness and consistency
probity · trustworthiness · rectitude · uprightness · scrupulousness