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

Rescuers coaxed him away but only as far as nearby Poel Island, where he is now lying on the seabed.

From BBC • Apr. 1, 2026

The fiction: Rattlesnakes are lying in wait to bite humans.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 1, 2026

Despite lying beneath unmarked stones, these young people were not nameless.

From Slate • Mar. 30, 2026

But you shouldn’t expect your children to be lying around all day, navel-gazing, or working 12-hour shifts in a South American lithium mine.

From Barron's • Mar. 27, 2026

I hated wearing them as passionately as she did, but I hated lying about who I was almost as much.

From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler

Related Words

• misleading