Mendacity
The tendency to lie; a false statement or untruth.
nounMendacity
The tendency to lie; a false statement or untruth.
nounImagine This
The mayor apologized that he had lied to the people. He used the public money to build his own mansion instead of mending the city.
Sounds Like
men-DAS-i-tee
Looks Like
mend + acity (looks like the word 'mend' plus 'acity')
Remember This
Mendacity comes from Latin mendacitas meaning lying; it is a formal term for dishonest behavior and is often used in political or literary analysis.
Other Forms
Connect With
deceit, falsehood, dishonesty, prevarication, duplicity
Note
Mendacity is a noun; the adjective form is mendacious and the adverb is mendaciously. It denotes a pattern or instance of lying, not a single untruth in casual speech.
Study Deeper
- The senator's mendacity alienated voters once the scandal became public.
- The witness's mendacity was exposed during cross-examination, casting doubt on the entire testimony.
From Latin mendacitas 'lying, falsehood', from mendax 'lying', with the suffix -itas forming a noun of quality; entered English via Old French mendacité or directly from Latin.
MEND A CITY: The word Mendacity looks like the phrase 'mend a city.' Use this to remember that it refers to lying or deceit, not actually fixing things.
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nounA person who refuses to follow the crowd; a nonconformist; someone who acts independently and resists conventional norms. The term can also describe such independent behavior when used as an adjective (e.g., a maverick thinker).
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Duplicity
nounDeceitfulness; the practice of acting with two-faced or deliberate deception.
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nounThe quality or state of being wildly unreasonable, illogical, or ridiculous; something that is completely contrary to reason or common sense.
Accent
nounA distinctive way of pronouncing words; the act of emphasizing a syllable or word (as a verb, to accent means to emphasize).
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nounAn honor; a public expression of praise or an award.
Acrimony
nounBitterness of speech or manner; ill feeling