white lie
a minor, polite, or harmless lie; fib.
Words Nearby white lie
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use white lie in a sentence
All it takes is one little white lie, and Frances stealthily gets her foot in the door of the Kyte family home.
Must-Read Fiction: ‘The Watch,’ ‘Alys, Always,’ ‘The Year of the Gadfly’ | Cameron Martin, Lucy Scholes, Amber Dermont | June 19, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTThe old saying is that a little white lie will never hurt somebody, and sometimes it actually makes things a little better.
"I'll do it," replied John, but he soothed his conscience by telling himself that it was a white lie.
The Hosts of the Air | Joseph A. AltshelerThe Frenchman delicately defined a white lie to be "valking round about de trooth."
And pray take notice that after the first white lie or two, circumstances overpowered them, and drove them on against their will.
White Lies | Charles Reade
It is a lie, I admit—but a white lie—the only explanation you can give, if you would still preserve your secret.
The White Lie | William Le Queux"I beg pardon, Captain," he said, to which he added a white lie.
Miss Ravenel's conversion from secession to loyalty | J. W. de Forest
British Dictionary definitions for white lie
a minor or unimportant lie, esp one uttered in the interests of tact or politeness
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with white lie
An untruth told to spare feelings or from politeness, as in She asked if I liked her dress, and of course I told a white lie. This term uses white in the sense of “harmless.” [First half of 1700s]
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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