belie
Americanverb (used with object)
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to show to be false; contradict.
His trembling hands belied his calm voice.
- Antonyms:
- support, verify, substantiate, confirm, prove
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to misrepresent.
The newspaper belied the facts.
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to act unworthily according to the standards of (a tradition, one's ancestry, one's faith, etc.).
-
Archaic. to lie about; slander.
verb
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to show to be untrue; contradict
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to misrepresent; disguise the nature of
the report belied the real extent of the damage
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to fail to justify; disappoint
Related Words
See misrepresent.
Other Word Forms
- belier noun
Etymology
Origin of belie
First recorded before 1000; Middle English belyen, Old English belēogan; be-, lie 1
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.
And very little that transpires between the current-day Chase and his director would belie the notion that Mr. Chase’s brand has gone down a hole of his own digging.
The former is purely fictional and latter is based on a real figure, but both are historical epics on a grand scale that belies their modest budgets.
At 27, Duop’s youthful face belied a life marked by war and poverty.
From Salon
He casts the country as crime-ridden, though the data belie him again.
She does everything to belie the fact that she’s pretty, which only makes the self-loathing aspect of her character more ludicrous.
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.
