stretching the truth
Bending the facts
Stretching the truth is exaggerating or distorting facts while stopping short of outright lying.
The image is of truth as something flexible—pulled beyond its natural shape but not quite broken: He wasn't exactly lying, just stretching the truth a bit.
The phrase often minimizes or excuses deception.
- fibTrivial, harmless falsehood
- telling talesRevealing others' wrongdoings
- white lieHarmless minor falsehood
- little white lieMinor harmless falsehood
- spinRapid rotation around axis
exaggeration · hyperbole · gilding the lily · embroidering · weasel words · truthiness · misrepresentation · omission · playing fast and loose · framing · embellishment · dishonesty · wishful thinking · smoke and mirrors · deception · euphemism · manipulation · distorting
- deceptionlie, lies, lying, fake, fraud
- exaggerationhyperbole, overstatement, exaggeration, magnification, amplification
- bending rulesloopholes, skirting, exploits, workarounds, cutting corners
- deceptionslie, lies, lying, deceit, decoy
- tall talesPaul Bunyan, Pecos Bill, John Henry, Johnny Appleseed, Davy Crockett
- egoego, egoism, big ego, egotism, egocentrism
stretching the truthtelling the truth
being honest · telling it like it is · full disclosure · straight talk · calling a spade a spade
truth, stretch, stretching, stretched, stretcher, stretches, outstretched, outstretch, stretchable