mendacity
Tendency toward falsehood
Mendacity is untruthfulness—the tendency or practice of lying.
The word carries a formal, literary quality and often suggests habitual rather than occasional dishonesty: The politician's mendacity was legendary.
A mendacious person lies readily; mendacity is the abstract quality they possess.
The word appears frequently in moral and political discourse, where it sounds more damning than simply calling someone a liar.
Disposition toward falsehood
- untruthfulnessDisposition toward false statements
- deceitDeliberate misleading of others
- duplicityDeliberate misleading behavior
- fraudIntentional criminal trickery
misrepresentation · trickery · subterfuge · chicanery · dissembling · guile · artifice · falseness
A false statement
- lieDeliberate falsehood
- fibTrivial, harmless falsehood
- fabricationDeliberately untrue statement
- falsityState of being incorrect
misstatement · distortion · canard · whopper · tall tale · disinformation · misinformation · hoax
Deceptive outward appearance
- veneerDecorative outer layer
- guiseExternal manner shown
- charadeAbsurd or obvious pretense
- impostureDeception through false identity
feigning · hypocrisy · insincerity · affectation · sham · front · masquerade · simulation
Compulsive need to deceive
- pathological liarOne who deceives compulsively
- confabulationInvented memories believed true
- self-deceptionConvincing yourself of falsehoods
- delusionStubbornly held false belief
One who speaks falsely
- deceiverOne who tricks others
- fibberOne who tells untruths
- prevaricatorOne who deceives verbally
- fabricatorCreator of lies
dissembler · mythomaniac · charlatan · fraud · impostor · hypocrite · two-faced · phony
dishonesty
Disposition toward falsehood
- untruthfulnessDisposition toward false statements
- deceitDeliberate misleading of others
- duplicityDeliberate misleading behavior
fraud · misrepresentation · trickery · subterfuge · chicanery · dissembling · guile · artifice · falseness · prevarication
untruth
A false statement
- lieDeliberate falsehood
- fibTrivial, harmless falsehood
- fabricationDeliberately untrue statement
falsity · misstatement · distortion · canard · whopper · tall tale · disinformation · misinformation · hoax · perjury
facade
Deceptive outward appearance
imposture · feigning · hypocrisy · insincerity · affectation · sham · front · masquerade · simulation · false pretenses
mythomania
Compulsive need to deceive
- pathological liarOne who deceives compulsively
- confabulationInvented memories believed true
- self-deceptionConvincing yourself of falsehoods
liar
One who speaks falsely
- deceiverOne who tricks others
- fibberOne who tells untruths
- prevaricatorOne who deceives verbally
fabricator · dissembler · mythomaniac · charlatan · fraud · impostor · hypocrite · two-faced · phony · untrustworthy
- deceptionslie, lies, lying, deceit, decoy
- dishonestydishonesty, deceit, duplicity, lying, cheating
- falsehoodslie, lies, lying, fib, fibbing
- honestyhonesty, truthfulness, candor, sincerity, dishonesty
- Truth Conceptshonesty, sincerity, veracity, deception, falsehood
- evasionevasion, avoiding, avoids, evade, dodging
mendacityhonesty
Truthfulness, sincerity
truthfulness · veracity · candor · truth · frankness
mendacityintegrity
Moral soundness and consistency
probity · honor · uprightness · rectitude · incorruptibility