big lie

noun

1. a false statement of outrageous magnitude employed as a propaganda measure in the belief that a lesser falsehood would not be credible.

Word History and Origins

Origin of big lie¹

First recorded in 1945–50

Example Sentences

In reality, evidence points to the right wing’s role in doing so, from the 2017 mob riot at the white supremacist Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., to the Jan. 6 mob riot of white supremacist “Big Lie” supporters at the U.S.

From Los Angeles Times

“They promulgated the ‘Big Lie,’” Dodd said of Fox News’ post-2020 election coverage.

From Los Angeles Times

"He was literally helping to liberate my mind from those mental chains of self-doubt, of believing the big lie about your inferiority and the fact that you're doomed to repeat the work of your parents as a drudge," he said.

From BBC

The Bush administration’s false pretext for so-called preemptive war against Iraq was thoroughly in the tradition of Joseph Goebbels’ Big Lie or George Orwell’s Newspeak.

From Salon

You’re waiting for that to be a big lie, but it’s not.

From Los Angeles Times