mendaciousness
Tendency toward falsehood
Mendaciousness is the quality of being untruthful—a tendency toward lying or deception.
The word emphasizes habitual dishonesty rather than a single lie: The administration's mendaciousness eroded public trust.
It's a formal term, more at home in written criticism than casual speech.
The simpler noun is mendacity.
Misleading speech avoiding directness
- fibbingTelling minor falsehoods
- falsehoodDeliberate untrue statement
- untruthfulnessDisposition toward false statements
- perjuryCriminal courtroom dishonesty
fabrication · misrepresentation · equivocation · falsification · invention · distortion · misstatement · mythomania
Deliberate misleading behavior
- guileSly, strategic dishonesty
- subterfugeDeliberate deception to conceal
- deceitfulnessDisposition to mislead
- dissemblingConcealing true motives
chicanery · trickery · artifice · imposture · sophistry · charlatanry · sham · masquerade
Lack of genuine feeling
- hypocrisyPretense of virtue
- perfidyDeliberate breach of trust
- treacheryDeliberate violation of trust
- untrustworthinessBeing unreliable or deceitful
unreliability · dishonesty · falseness · phoniness · faithlessness · disloyalty · betrayal · double-dealing
Manipulation causing self-doubt
- propagandaBiased information for influence
- spinRapid rotation around axis
- disinformationIntentional deceptive falsehoods
- misinformationFalse data spread unintentionally
brainwashing · indoctrination · psychological warfare · machination · scheming · persuasion · influence · coercion
prevarication
Misleading speech avoiding directness
- fibbingTelling minor falsehoods
- falsehoodDeliberate untrue statement
- untruthfulnessDisposition toward false statements
perjury · fabrication · misrepresentation · equivocation · falsification · invention · distortion · misstatement · mythomania · pathological lying
duplicity
Deliberate misleading behavior
- guileSly, strategic dishonesty
- subterfugeDeliberate deception to conceal
- deceitfulnessDisposition to mislead
dissembling · chicanery · trickery · artifice · imposture · sophistry · charlatanry · sham · masquerade · hoax
insincerity
Lack of genuine feeling
untrustworthiness · unreliability · dishonesty · falseness · phoniness · faithlessness · disloyalty · betrayal · double-dealing · bad faith
gaslighting
Manipulation causing self-doubt
- propagandaBiased information for influence
- spinRapid rotation around axis
- disinformationIntentional deceptive falsehoods
misinformation · brainwashing · indoctrination · psychological warfare · machination · scheming · persuasion · influence · coercion · maneuvering
mendaciousnesstruthfulness
Habit of not lying
honesty · veracity · veraciousness · candor · frankness
mendaciousnessintegrity
Moral soundness and consistency
probity · honor · trustworthiness · incorruptibility · rectitude