live a lie
Pretend being another
To live a lie is to sustain a false version of yourself or your circumstances over time—maintaining a marriage you know is loveless, hiding your sexuality, pretending to credentials you don't have.
The phrase emphasizes the ongoing deception, not a single falsehood but a life organized around it: He lived a lie for twenty years before coming out to his family.
- secretConcealed information
- secret lifeExistence kept from others
- double lifeSecret parallel identity
- hidden truthFact kept from view
- deceptionIntentional misleading of others
facade · hide · mask · lying · self-delusion · disguise · fib · pretense · duplicity · cognitive dissonance · existential angst · closeted · hypocrisy · identity crisis · true self · inner conflict · authenticity · deceive