lying

¹ American  

[lahy-ing] / ˈlaɪ ɪŋ /

noun

1. the telling of lies, or false statements; untruthfulness.

   From boyhood, he has never been good at lying.

   Synonyms:

   prevarication, mendacity, falsity, falsehood

   Antonyms:

   veracity, truth

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adjective

1. telling or containing lies; deliberately untruthful; deceitful; false.

   a lying report.

   Synonyms:

   counterfeit, sham, fallacious, mendacious, misleading, deceptive

   Antonyms:

   trustworthy, accurate, correct, actual, candid, true

lying ² American  

[lahy-ing] / ˈlaɪ ɪŋ /

verb

1. present participle of lie.

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lying ¹ British  

/ ˈlaɪɪŋ /

verb

1. the present participle and gerund of lie 1

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lying ² British  

/ ˈlaɪɪŋ /

verb

1. the present participle and gerund of lie 2

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Other Word Forms

• lyingly adverb

Etymology

Origin of lying

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English; lie ¹, -ing ¹, -ing ²

Example Sentences

Promising in a foreign language feels less like lying.

From Literature

Even when they had passed the mill and the great wooden wheel lying motionless in the millrace, its own channel on one side of the dry streambed, he had said nothing.

From Literature

You slither out onto its snuggly warm blackness, and pretty soon you get so cozy and content lying there that you fall asleep, stretched out and snoring, even.

From Literature

Littler said: "I remember running into the room and Lucy was lying on the floor near the entrance to the bathroom and Kris was just screaming, just sort of nonsense."

From BBC

Resorting to facial recognition and other technologies addresses the reality that self-reported age has proven unreliable, with minors routinely lying about their birthdates to circumvent platform safety measures.

From Barron's

Related Words

• misleading