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Synonyms

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

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.

lying 1 British  
/ ˈlaɪɪŋ /

verb

  1. the present participle and gerund of lie 1

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
lying 2 British  
/ ˈlaɪɪŋ /

verb

  1. the present participle and gerund of lie 2

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • lyingly adverb

Etymology

Origin of lying

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

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.

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

I had an iPhone and therefore I had a fitness app; its built-in ring was lying in wait.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 29, 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

People were trying to get a ship to America, or they were sick lying in the streets of Ballilee, or just wandering out on the road as Devlin put them out of their houses.

From "Nory Ryan’s Song" by Patricia Reilly Giff

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.