lying

¹ American  

[lahy-ing] / ˈlaɪ ɪŋ /

noun

1. the telling of lies, or false statements; untruthfulness.

   From boyhood, he has never been good at lying.

   Synonyms:

   prevarication, mendacity, falsity, falsehood

   Antonyms:

   veracity, truth

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adjective

1. telling or containing lies; deliberately untruthful; deceitful; false.

   a lying report.

   Synonyms:

   counterfeit, sham, fallacious, mendacious, misleading, deceptive

   Antonyms:

   trustworthy, accurate, correct, actual, candid, true

lying ² American  

[lahy-ing] / ˈlaɪ ɪŋ /

verb

1. present participle of lie.

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lying ¹ British  

/ ˈlaɪɪŋ /

verb

1. the present participle and gerund of lie 1

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lying ² British  

/ ˈlaɪɪŋ /

verb

1. the present participle and gerund of lie 2

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Other Word Forms

• lyingly adverb

Etymology

Origin of lying

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English; lie ¹, -ing ¹, -ing ²

Example Sentences

"If it looks like I am lying there doing nothing it means I am doing everything right," he said prior to the Games.

From Barron's

"This woman was lying on the bed as if she were dead. There are men next to her. I didn't understand who they were. I didn't know them. I'd never met them."

From BBC

Two federal agents have been put on leave and are under investigation for allegedly lying about a shooting in Minneapolis last month that left a Venezuelan immigrant wounded, a top US immigration official said Friday.

From Barron's

It depicts a woman dressed all in white who is lying on the floor.

From Los Angeles Times

It showed remarkable resilience from Choi, after she had earlier taken a brutal fall in which she hit the icy lip of the pipe and flipped into its centre, lying motionless for some time.

From BBC

Related Words

• misleading