lie2 ●●● S3 W3 verb (lied, lying) [intransitiveI] 1 LIE/TELL A LIEto deliberately tell someone something that is not true 说谎 I could tell from her face that she was lying. 我可以从她脸上看出她在说谎。
lie to I would never lie to you. 我永远不会对你说谎。
lie about She lied about her age. 她隐瞒了她的年龄。
lie through your teeth (=say something that is completely untrue) 撒弥天大谎
2 UNTRUEif a picture, account etc lies, it does not show the true facts or the true situation 〔图片、叙述等〕造成假象,欺骗 Statistics can often lie. 统计数字往往会造成一种假象。
The camera never lies. 相机从来不会作假。
n THESAURUSlie/tell a lie to deliberately tell someone something that is not trueShe had lied to protect her son.
Are you accusing me of telling lies?
fib verb [intransitiveI] informal to lie, especially about something that is not very important – used especially by childrenDan’s fibbing. I didn’t hit him.
make something up/invent something to invent a story, explanation etc in order to deceive someoneI didn’t want to go so I made up an excuse and said I was busy.
He invented the tale to prevent his parents from finding out the truth.
mislead verb [transitiveT] to make someone believe something that is not true by giving them false or incomplete informationThe government misled the public over the war.
be economical with the truth to only tell someone part of the truth – often used when saying indirectly that someone is lyingHe admitted that he had perhaps been economical with the truth.
perjure yourself/commit perjury to tell a lie in a court of lawHe had perjured himself in court.
Witnesses will be prosecuted if they commit perjury.
lie• Public servants, like children with guns, learn to lie.• Now, with the founder gone, these ominous flaws lay glaringly exposed.• The jelly cupboard was on its back, its contents lying in a heap in the corner of the bottom shelf.• The immorality lies in the inherent wrongness of people deliberately killing other people.• It doesn't set out to lie, of course, but it sometimes succeeds.• We were both lying on our backs, our heads on our clasped hands.• She was dressed in a silk kimono and lying on the daybed when he went in.• He lay on the track for five minutes before being rescued by two friends who were also out riding.
lie about• I was pretty sure she was lying about where she was.