white lie

W w

Transcription

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
- [hwahyt, wahyt lahy]
- /ʰwaɪt, waɪt laɪ/
- /waɪt laɪ/

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- [hwahyt, wahyt lahy]
- /ʰwaɪt, waɪt laɪ/

Definitions of white lie words

noun white lie a minor, polite, or harmless lie; fib. 1
noun white lie fib 1
countable noun white lie If you refer to an untrue statement as a white lie, you mean that it is made to avoid hurting someone's feelings or to avoid trouble, and not for an evil purpose. 0
noun white lie a minor or unimportant lie, esp one uttered in the interests of tact or politeness 0
noun white lie a lie concerning a trivial matter, often one told to spare someone's feelings 0

See all 5 definitions of white lie

Information block about the term

Parts of speech for White lie

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

Full grammatical hierarchy of White lie

white lie popularity

A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 44% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.

According to our data about 55% of words is more used. This is a rare but used term. It occurs in the pages of specialized literature and in the speech of educated people.

white lie usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Synonyms for white lie

noun white lie

bestiary — a moralizing medieval collection of descriptions (and often illustrations) of real and mythical animals
cock and bull story — an absurd, improbable story presented as the truth: Don't ask him about his ancestry unless you want to hear a cock-and-bull story.
disinformation — false information, as about a country's military strength or plans, publicly announced or planted in the news media, especially of other countries.
fable — a short tale to teach a moral lesson, often with animals or inanimate objects as characters; apologue: the fable of the tortoise and the hare; Aesop's fables.
falsification — to make false or incorrect, especially so as to deceive: to falsify income-tax reports.

All 10 Synonyms of white lie