adjective
-
unconcealed or shameless
a barefaced lie
-
with the face uncovered or shaven
Other Word Forms
- barefacedly adverb
- barefacedness noun
Etymology
Origin of barefaced
Explanation
If masked means hidden, barefaced means unconcealed. If you get caught speeding and reach into your wallet and hand the officer $20, that’s a barefaced attempt at a bribe. Barefaced — or as it's sometimes known, bald-faced — behavior is always bold and sometimes shameless. Nonchalantly telling a security guard at the jewelry store that you "plain forgot" you'd slipped the necklace into your pocket is a barefaced lie and shameless to boot. A reporter's barefaced questioning of a mayor found to be stealing from city treasury carries no shame, on the other hand — at least not for the reporter.
Vocabulary lists containing barefaced
"Macbeth" Vocabulary from Act III
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Talk Like Shakespeare Day, List 2
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Vocabulary Video Contest (2013) - List 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
This August afternoon, she is on a video call from her home in Las Vegas, where the barefaced star shares a room with, as she describes it, “my Liberace piano” and a full-size carousel horse.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 3, 2025
Mr Khan's spokesperson previously said the circulated leaflets "peddle a barefaced lie".
From BBC • Apr. 10, 2024
For her self-pitying act, Ellis drew widespread disdain for her "crocodile tears" and "barefaced lies that could give a coyote gastric distress."
From Salon • Oct. 26, 2023
At one ticket counter, an agent checking passengers’ luggage wore a mask while a colleague working next to her was barefaced.
From New York Times • Apr. 19, 2022
His undoubted gifts as an anatomist allowed him to get away with the most barefaced dishonesties.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
