Monday, April 16, 2018

Sadly Useful Synonyms


The Merriam-Webster Dictionary published a timely article in its "Words at Play" series yesterday: Seven Words for Lying. This is not only timely but very useful, given Donald Trump's at-best nodding acquaintance with the truth, as these seven synonyms can be useful to keep all the news reports from sounding the same:

Prevaricate - (verb) to avoid telling the truth by not directly answering a question. Prevarication is the noun.

Palter - (verb) to act insincerely or deceitfully.

Mendacious - (adjective) likely to tell lies. Mendacity is the noun.

Dissemble - (verb) to hide under a false appearance.

Fib - (noun and verb) a trivial or childish lie.

Equivocate - (verb) to use unclear language especially to deceive or mislead someone. Equivocation is the noun.

Perjure - (verb) to tell a lie under oath*.  The noun form is perjury.

Don't thank me. Be sorry we need so many different ways to say it, when God Almighty only needed one commandment.


Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

6 comments:

Grand Crapaud said...

Lying is a national sport lately.

eViL pOp TaRt said...

It's a sign of the times: an increased necessity to express when someone else is lying. At least they're better than "fake news."

Mike said...

I knew the last three. Another one I've heard recently is when cops get on the stand and lie to make their case. It's called testilying.

Elvis Wearing a Bra on His Head said...

"There are three linds of life: lies, damned lies, and statistics."

Benjamin Disraeli

Bilbo said...

Yes, Mike, we have recent experience with that one!

allenwoodhaven said...

A good vocabulary lesson.