untruth
/ʌnˈtruːθ
/noun (plural untruths /ʌnˈtruːðz/ /ʌnˈtruːθs/)
1A lie or false statement (often used euphemistically): they go off and tell untruths about organizations for which they worked...
- But the media treat these routine untruths as respectable statements that ought to be analysed and debated.
- Don't become overly bold just because you feel you are safely hiding behind your computer screen and make statements that are untruths.
- Research revealed that untruths range from little white lies to huge whoppers aimed purely at personal gain.
Synonyms
lie, falsehood, fib, fabrication, deception, made-up story, trumped-up story, invention, fiction, piece of fiction, falsification, falsity, cock and bull story, barefaced lie;
(little) white lie, half-truth, exaggeration, prevarication, departure from the truth;
yarn, story, red herring, rumour, fable, myth, flight of fancy, figment of the imagination;
pretence, pretext, sham, ruse, wile, stratagem;
(untruths) misinformation, disinformation, trickery, perjury, dissimulation, gossip, propaganda
informal tall story, tall tale, fairy story, fairy tale, whopper
British informal porky, pork pie, porky pie
humorous terminological inexactitude, economy with the truth
vulgar slang bullshit
Australian/New Zealand vulgar slang bulldust
falsity, falsehood, falseness, untruthfulness, fallaciousness, fiction, fictitiousness, inaccuracy, hollowness;
mendacity, fabrication, dishonesty, deceit, deceitfulness, deception, duplicity, disingenuousness, hypocrisy, fraud, fraudulence
informal kidology
rare unveracity
1.1 [mass noun] The quality of being false: the story was full of misleading innuendo and untruth...
- The holy lotus, whose essence is white, indicates that knowledge is meticulously clean - untarnished by untruth, while the sitting position signifies wisdom, an indication that the ego must be suppressed.
- While definitely not a collective, as some panel members seemed to believe, the blogosphere is made up of individuals whose motivations for revealing truth and correcting untruth are not borne of a desire to bring down the media.
- Above the shelves where goods are stacked, printed signs admonish: ‘Even one drop of untruth will poison the entire milk ocean of truth.’
Origin
Old English untrēowth 'unfaithfulness' (see un-1, truth).