misleading claim
Deceptive stated falsehood
A misleading claim is a statement that creates a false impression without necessarily being an outright lie.
It may cherry-pick facts, omit crucial context, or use technically accurate language to suggest something untrue: The ad's misleading claims about weight loss led to an FTC investigation.
The phrase appears frequently in discussions of advertising, politics, and fact-checking.
- falsehoodDeliberate untrue statement
- bald-faced lieShameless, obvious untruth
- deceptionIntentional misleading of others
- distortionTwisting from original state
- spinRapid rotation around axis
cherry picking · propaganda · hoax · fabrication · tall tale · exaggeration · half-truth · weasel words · misinformation · disinformation · alternative facts · fake news · manipulation · twist · moving the goalposts · straw man · smokescreen · smoke and mirrors
- Fact-checkingfact check, verify, debunk, misinformation, disinformation
- smear tacticssmear, smear campaign, mudslinging, attack ads, hit piece
- label errorsmisnaming, typo, misnomer, mistagging, misprint
mislead, misleads, misled, misleading, misleadingly, lead, leads, leading, leader