mythomania
Pathological lying disorder
Mythomania is a compulsive tendency to lie or fabricate elaborate stories.
Unlike ordinary lying for advantage, mythomania suggests pathological behavior—the person may half-believe their own inventions or feel unable to stop.
The term appears in psychiatric contexts but also in looser usage: His mythomania made it impossible to trust anything he said.
Stating known falsehoods
- dishonestyDisposition toward falsehood
- deceitDeliberate misleading of others
- fraudIntentional criminal trickery
- prevaricationMisleading speech avoiding directness
falsity · untruth · fabrication · dissemble · imposture · feign · sham · counterfeit
Decorative addition or exaggeration
- tall-taleOutlandish fictional narrative
- yarnTwisted strand for crafts
- whopperOutsized thing or untruth
- exaggerationOverstating beyond reality
confabulation · invention · fantasy · boasting · braggadocio · attention-seeking · self-aggrandizement
Invented memories believed true
- monomaniaFixation on single idea
- delusionStubbornly held false belief
- self-deceptionConvincing yourself of falsehoods
- narcissismExcessive admiration of oneself
grandiosity · attention-seeking · fabricator · dissociation · histrionic · malingering
lying
Stating known falsehoods
- dishonestyDisposition toward falsehood
- deceitDeliberate misleading of others
- fraudIntentional criminal trickery
prevarication · falsity · untruth · fabrication · dissemble · imposture · feign · sham · counterfeit · hoax
embellishment
Decorative addition or exaggeration
- tall-taleOutlandish fictional narrative
- yarnTwisted strand for crafts
- whopperOutsized thing or untruth
exaggeration · confabulation · invention · fantasy · boasting · braggadocio · attention-seeking · self-aggrandizement
confabulation
Invented memories believed true
- monomaniaFixation on single idea
- delusionStubbornly held false belief
- self-deceptionConvincing yourself of falsehoods
narcissism · grandiosity · attention-seeking · fabricator · dissociation · histrionic · malingering
mythomaniahonesty
Truthfulness, sincerity
truthfulness · veracity · candor · sincerity · forthrightness