forked-tongue
Liar's symbolic trait
Forked-tongue describes deceptive or duplicitous speech—saying one thing while meaning another, or making promises with no intention of keeping them.
The image comes from the snake's split tongue, associated with treachery since biblical times.
Most often appears as an adjective before nouns: forked-tongue politicians, forked-tongue promises.
To speak with a forked tongue is to lie or deceive.
One who speaks falsely
- deceitDeliberate misleading of others
- duplicityDeliberate misleading behavior
- treacheryDeliberate violation of trust
- dishonestyDisposition toward falsehood
false · cunning · manipulation · betrayal · two-faced · serpent · devil · trickster
Limbless scaled reptile
- reptileCold-blooded scaled vertebrate
- viperFanged toxic serpent
- serpentCunning, limbless reptile
- flickeringShining unsteadily, intermittently
tasting · sensory · scales · hissing · cobra · python · Jacobson's organ · bifurcated
One who occupies foreign land
- treatyBinding pact between nations
- betrayalBreaking of trust
- settlersThose who establish homes
- reservationAdvance arrangement to hold
deception · displacement · conquest · dispossession · exploitation · assimilation · Cherokee · Lakota
liar
One who speaks falsely
- deceitDeliberate misleading of others
- duplicityDeliberate misleading behavior
- treacheryDeliberate violation of trust
dishonesty · false · cunning · manipulation · betrayal · two-faced · serpent · devil · trickster · untrustworthy
snake
Limbless scaled reptile
flickering · tasting · sensory · scales · hissing · cobra · python · Jacobson's organ · bifurcated · slithering
colonizer
One who occupies foreign land
reservation · deception · displacement · conquest · dispossession · exploitation · assimilation · Cherokee · Lakota · government
forked-tonguehonest
Free from deception
truthful · plain-spoken · candid · forthright · sincere
forked-tonguetrustworthy
Worthy of confidence
true-hearted · honorable · man of his word · true to one's word · principled
fork, forked, forks, forking, tongue, tongues, tongued, tonguing