fib
/fɪb
/- Even though he'd published all those dreadful fibs.
- These little white fibs give me an uneasy feeling, and I begin to wonder why the shop would lie, when I am here to help save them thousands of dollars in fines.
- And this is what truly makes running the piece rank propaganda down here, rather than just plain old fibs and/or misinformation.
Synonyms
- I had to snap her out of it somehow, so I fibbed a little.
- Besides, you two would have given away our true intentions, so I fibbed a little, is that a crime?
Synonyms
Derivatives
fibber
/ noun ...- There are fibbers, fabricators and feckless fabulists.
- Britain is a nation of fibbers - and men tell more white lies than women - according to a new report.
- Tommy, who has the reputation as a fibber, can't get his parents or the police to believe him.
Origin
Mid 16th century: perhaps a shortening of obsolete fible-fable 'nonsense', reduplication of fable.
fabulous from Late Middle English:
The Latin word fabula ‘story’, ultimately from fari, meaning ‘to speak’, is the source of both fabulous and fable (Middle English), and perhaps of fib (mid 16th century), which may be a shortening of the obsolete fible-fable ‘nonsense’. A fable is a short story which conveys a moral, and is particularly associated with the legendary 6th-century bc Greek storyteller Aesop, whose fables have given the language many expressions (see, for example, at chicken). In early use fabulous meant ‘known through fable’ or ‘not based on fact’. The idea of ‘astonishing’ led to it being understood as both ‘beyond belief’ and ‘wonderful, marvellous’. As the 60s started to swing, fabulous was shortened to fab, and the Beatles were nicknamed the Fab Four, while in the 1990s TV comedy Absolutely Fabulous (sometimes shortened to Ab Fab), ‘Fabulous, sweetie!’ was the standard encouragement. See also fate