untruth

«untruth» in Mova's school dictionary: a lie, a statement that is not true — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (an untruth, untruths)

meaning for a pupil

1) (formal, euphemism) An untruth is a lie, a statement that is not true. tree →

2) Untruth (uncountable) is the state of not being true. tree →

sense in the lessons

A polite or formal word for a lie, used in formal speech, news, school and stories when someone does not want to say «lie» bluntly. In safety and media lessons, spotting untruths online matters. Plain word: lie, fib (informal, small lie).

examples

• I'm afraid that is an untruth. tree →
• The newspaper printed an untruth about the singer. tree →
• Telling untruths can hurt friendships. tree →
• The fox told the hen an untruth to trick her. tree →
• It was a small untruth, but it got him in trouble. tree →

note

Use «an untruth» (vowel sound). It is a softer, more formal word than «lie» — a euphemism. Plural: untruths. Opposite: truth.

In the corpora

• Companies hide extra costs, broken products and bad results behind soft words; politicians hide taxes and untruths the same way.
• Some untruths are told out of love.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «untruth» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.