liar
Americannoun
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:
“Epstein was a masterful liar, and he clearly lied to me,” she said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
Any comedian that tells you otherwise is a liar.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026
“Five witnesses in this trial called him a liar under oath,” Musk’s lawyer, Steven Molo, said of OpenAI’s Altman.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 18, 2026
Zoning in on his career and moments such as his dramatic ousting from OpenAI in 2023, the story portrayed Altman as a pathological liar.
From BBC ● May 15, 2026
“In all the years I helped raise you, I never took you for a liar, Ekon.”
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
"As far as I'm concerned, it's just a waste of time dealing with them. They're liars."
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
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
I had helped bring about the progress and national impact such that none could call us liars when we called Mr. Muhammad the most powerful black man in America.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
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.
