fib
Americannoun
-
fibs
plural
verb (used without object)
-
fibs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
fibbed,
past participle, past
-
fibbing
present participle
noun
verb
Synonym Usage
See falsehood.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
fibsimple
-
fibssimple
-
have fibbedperfect
-
has fibbedperfect
-
am fibbingprogressive
-
are fibbingprogressive
-
is fibbingprogressive
-
have been fibbingperfect progressive
-
has been fibbingperfect progressive
Past
-
fibbedsimple
-
had fibbedperfect
-
was fibbingprogressive
-
were fibbingprogressive
-
had been fibbingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of fib
1560–70; short for fibble-fable nonsense, gradational compound based on fable
Explanation
A fib is a small lie. If you think your friend's haircut looks strange, but you tell her you love it, it's a fib. When you tell a fib, you fib. The thing that distinguishes a fib from a lie is that a fib isn't terribly important — it's minor or petty. You might fib to protect someone's feelings or to save yourself a long explanation about exactly why you're late to work. The origin of the word fib is uncertain, but it may come from fibble-fable, or "nonsense," which in turn comes from fable.
Vocabulary lists containing fib
Dubliners
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Charlotte's Web
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I Survived Hurricane Katrina, 2005
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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.
See Examples For:
"Perhaps the starkest," Dr Rogers said, were her attempts to explain the cancer fib.
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2025
If someone were to ask me how I kept my sanity this past year, I would first probably fib and come up with something literary.
From Slate ● Dec. 28, 2024
Rae’s pretext for the connection: Piano music helps her work, and Yoori was recommended by someone who overheard her practicing at the music school, a fib that the sweet but self-effacing Yoori hardly believes.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 6, 2024
When Letterman asked if she was telling a little fib, she coyly replied, “yes.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 4, 2023
He didn’t see the harm in a tiny fib if it helped save the owls.
From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen
I also wouldn’t assign her fibs any intention other than self-preservation.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 29, 2026
But when Jeff fibs and says that Helen’s going to be in a new Paul Newman film, eyes light up.
From Salon ● Jun. 2, 2026
After an overconfident miller fibs that his daughter can spin straw into gold, a greedy king locks the poor girl in a room full of straw.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
Dwayne Johnson’s fans smelled that “The Rock” was cooking up fibs, and now the cheat-meal connoisseur is correcting his “first-ever” burger flub.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 2, 2024
“Dear me!” said the old lady, putting up her glass for another observation of Meg, who tried to look as if she had not heard and been rather shocked at Mrs. Moffat’s fibs.
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
“I think he fibbed to me,” he told TMZ.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 27, 2023
Her children asked why, and she fibbed: “Oh, because I like the car.”
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 6, 2023
So, he apparently fibbed to…give the markets a brief pop.
From Slate ● Aug. 30, 2019
No sooner had we met than Pat confessed that he had fibbed.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 28, 2019
They’ve fibbed plenty of times about things they’ve broken, haven’t they?
From "Merci Suárez Changes Gears" by Meg Medina
Some people say they've resorted to fibbing about illnesses, emigration or even prison sentences so the company will stop trying to keep them signed up.
From BBC ● Apr. 2, 2026
Stunned by her blatant fibbing, I backed off.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 21, 2026
By the way, they also confess to occasionally fibbing about “overqualificiations” to spare job applicants’ egos.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2025
It also has chapters now in 11 states, but not one here, so sadly there is no annual fibbing award for Washington.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 23, 2023
I used to be able to tell when she was fibbing, but lately I wasn’t so sure.
From "Maybe He Just Likes You" by Barbara Dee
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.
