liar
Americannoun
-
liars
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of liar
before 950; Middle English lier, Old English lēogere. See lie 1, -ar 1
Explanation
A liar is someone who doesn't tell the truth. A liar tells lies. "Liar, liar, pants on fire," a phrase of unknown origin, is a children's jump-rope rhyme also used as a playground taunt. Adults, and especially political commentators, have also been known to use the phrase or part of it as a particularly demeaning insult aimed at politicians who make outrageous claims that can't possibly be true. Notice that liar ends in -ar, not -er, as you might expect.
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:
Refrain from calling her a pathological liar, even if just to yourself, as that will color your response to her.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 29, 2026
Arday has admitted to mistakes, but said he was being wrongly "portrayed to be a liar and a fantasist and an academic fraud."
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
Does that mean Seehorn is an adept liar?
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
His problem is that he’s a liar and a jerk.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
I can tell you one thing: whoever she was, she was certainly a big old liar!
From "Louisiana's Way Home" by Kate DiCamillo
I do think she’s calling the supermajority liars.
From Slate ● Jun. 3, 2026
“Their entire case is built on murderer’s row — a bunch of liars just trying to get out of jail,” Tedford said.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 2026
Ms. Adelman describes how Lewis’s specimens fell into the hands of a series of botanists—some of them charlatans, drunkards, liars or thieves—who squandered his legacy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026
Navy attack on an alleged Venezuelan drug-smuggling boat, and almost certain liars for their accounts of the incident.
From Salon ● Dec. 20, 2025
“They’re all liars, Jonas. They wouldn’t give her anything.”
From "Between Shades of Gray" by Ruta Sepetys
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.
