lying

¹

[lahy-ing]

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

[lahy-ing]

verb

1. present participle of lie.

lying

¹

/ ˈlaɪɪŋ /

verb

1. the present participle and gerund of lie 1

lying

²

/ ˈlaɪɪŋ /

verb

1. the present participle and gerund of lie 2

Other Word Forms

• lyingly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of lying¹

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

Example Sentences

She takes one of the gel containers lying on the floor and uses it to re-coil a few of the twists on my head.

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This job, like so many others, fell to Svetlana, and that is how she happened to find an entirely unexpected letter lying on the front step.

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“Nowhere! Who would want such unattractive things lying about?”

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But instead of stone, she found herself lying on a thick, soft quilt.

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He hated lying, especially to his mother, but he knew this was the quickest way to change the subject.

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Related Words

• misleading