mendacity

noun

men·​dac·​i·​ty men-ˈda-sə-tē 

plural mendacities

1

: the quality or state of being mendacious

to blow the whistle on mendacity and hypocrisy

—Geoffrey Wolff

2

: lie

mendacities of the singer's manager

Synonyms

• fable
• fabrication
• fairy tale
• falsehood
• falsity
• fib
• lie
• prevarication
• story
• tale
• taradiddle
• tarradiddle
• untruth
• whopper

Examples of mendacity in a Sentence

highly fictionalized “memoirs” in which the facts were few and the mendacities many

you need to overcome this deplorable mendacity, or no one will ever believe anything you say

Recent Examples on the Web

But conservatism ought not to be equated with populist buffoonery and mendacity. —Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 14 Oct. 2024

And mendacity and brutality and remorseless destruction of people’s lives. —Taylor Antrim, Vogue, 10 Oct. 2024

In practice, the regime has created a militarized republic of fear in which mediocrity is glorified and mendacity institutionalized. —Ali Vaez, Foreign Affairs, 2 Feb. 2023

Many critics are displaying a combination of ignorance and mendacity, often with a significant dollop of anti-Jewish conspiracy theory. —David Bernstein, National Review, 3 May 2024

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1540, in the meaning defined at sense 1