Are you looking for some useful lie idioms?
You are in the right place.
Here are 31 lie idioms and phrases that will enhance your English and help you even more like a native English speaker.
1. A Little White Lie
- Meaning: to say something that is not true in order not to hurt someone’s feelings.
- Use In A Sentence: I couldn’t tell her that I didn’t like the food so I told a little white lie and said that we did enjoy dinner.
2. To Get The Short End Of The Stick
- Meaning: To not get the outcome a person deserves, usually after they have been slighted in some way.
- Use In A Sentence: After the negotiations we over, Steve felt like he got the short end of the stick.
3. To Lie Through One’s Teeth
- Meaning: to boldly tell lies with no remorse.
- Use In A Sentence: If he says he wasn’t at the party, he is lying through his teeth because I saw him there talking to Jessica.
4. To Lie Your Water Into/Out Of Something
- Meaning: to get out of a difficult situation by telling a lie or several lies.
- Use In A Sentence: Fred lied his way out of a speeding ticket.
5. To Be Taken To The Cleaners By Someone
- Meaning: to swindle someone. To take someone’s money in a deceitful manner.
- Use In A Sentence: The con artists took the elderly couple to the cleaners by convincing them they needed a new roof.
6. A Tissue Of Lies
- Meaning: A story that is full of lies.
- Use In A Sentence: I don’t believe his story. I think it is nothing but a tissue of lies.
7. To Be In Cahoots With Someone
- Meaning: to work closely with someone usually to do something deceitful or dishonest.
- Use In A Sentence: After the investigation, it was clear the mayor was in cahoots with the thieves.
8. A Lie Has No Legs
- Meaning: Something that is clearly a lie.
- Use In A Sentence: Don’t worry about what they said you and Jessica. Remember a lie has no legs and the truth will come out.
9. To Pull The Wool Over Someone’s Eyes
- Meaning: to deceive someone in hopes of taking advantage of them.
- Use In A Sentence: Be careful with what Bobby tells you. I don’t think he wants to help you. I think he is just pulling the wool over your eyes so that you will give him what he wants.
10. Monkey Business
- Meaning: dishonest behavior.
- Use In A Sentence: I suspected some monkey business was going on when I wasn’t in the room.
11. To Take Someone For A Ride
- Meaning: to deliberately deceive someone; to cheat someone.
- Use In A Sentence: I think that salesman is taking you for a ride. There is no way, that car gets 50 miles to the gallon.
12. To Pull One’s Leg
- Meaning: To tell someone something that is not true, usually as a joke.
- Use In A Sentence: I don’t know if I would believe Ryan. I think he was just pulling your leg when he said that you won the grand prize.
13. Smoke And Mirrors
- Meaning: words/actions that are meant to deliberately deceive or to confuse someone.
- Use In A Sentence: I think his report is nothing but smoke and mirrors.
14. To Stretch The Truth
- Meaning: to exaggerate the truth in order to mislead someone without technically lying.
- Use In A Sentence: He stretched the truth about his writing experience in order to get the job.
15. To Bend The Truth
- Meaning: To alter or omit certain details of a story in order to achieve one’s goal.
- Use In A Sentence: He bent the truth a little in order to make himself look better at the job interview.
16. To Throw Dust Into Someone’s Eyes
- Meaning: to mislead someone by diverting the person from the truth.
- Use In A Sentence: I think he is throwing dust in your eyes so that you don’t see the real problem.
17. To Pull A Fast One On Someone
- Meaning: to deceive someone before they know what is going on.
- Use In A Sentence: Gary tried to pull a fast one on the teacher when he told her that he was late because his mom was sick. However, his mom had already talked to the teacher that morning.
18. To Rip Someone Off
- Meaning: to cheat someone.
- Use In A Sentence: That salesperson ripped me off. This isn’t a real Rolex!
19. To Pull/Yank One’s Chain
- Meaning: to tell someone something that is not true, usually as a joke; to pull someone’s leg
- Use In A Sentence: I don’t know if I would believe Ryan. I think he was just pulling your chain when he said that you won the grand prize.
20. To Have Scales Fall From One’s Eyes
- Meaning: to be able to understand the truth after a long time of not believing it, not wanting to believe it, or realizing the truth after being deceived.
- Use In A Sentence: It was at that moment that scales fell from my eyes and I realized that he hasn’t been telling me the truth.
21. To Lie Like A Rug
- Meaning: used to describe someone who lies without any remorse.
- Use In A Sentence: I don’t believe him for one second. He is lying like a rug about where he was last night.
22. To Lie Like One Breathes
- Meaning: used to describe someone who lies without thinking about it. Lying has become second nature to him.
- Use In A Sentence: I can’t watch the news anymore. That politician lies likes he breathes and it just makes me sick.
23. To Cry Wolf
- Meaning: to say you are in trouble when in reality you are not. Then when you are really in need of help people no longer will come to help you because they no longer believe you. To raise a false alarm.
- Use In A Sentence: Don’t pay attention to him, he is just crying wolf. The last time he said he needed help, I went to help him, but he just wanted the attention.
24. Crooked As A Barrel Of Fish Hooks
- Meaning: a deceitful or dishonest person.
- Use In A Sentence: Don’t believe everything Mark says, he is as crooked as a barrel of fish hooks.
25. Sharp Practice
- Meaning: a deceitful sneaky practice.
- Use In A Sentence: After the sharp practice was discovered the government has been keeping a closer eye on the private sector.
26. To Not Trust Someone As Far As You Can Throw Them
- Meaning: to not trust someone usually because they have a reputation of being dishonest or deceitful
- Use In A Sentence: I don’t want to do business with Gary. I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him.
27. To Take Something With A Pinch/Grain Of Salt
- Meaning: to keep in mind that what is being said may not be completely true because the source is not a reliable source. To be skeptical of what is being said.
- Use In A Sentence: Remember to take why David says with a grain of salt. He is really upset right now and he is not thinking clearly about the situation.
28. To Lie Like A Tombstone
- Meaning: to lie without any remorse. To exaggerate the truth.
- Use In A Sentence: My sister lies like a tombstone about her performance at school.
29. A Fish Tale
- Meaning: A lie or an exaggeration of the truth.
- Use In A Sentence: I don’t think he was telling the truth, it sounded like nothing but a good old fish tale to me.
30. To Be Full Of Hot Air
- Meaning: a person who is lying or a person who exaggerates the truth.
- Use In A Sentence: Tim is full of hot air. There is no way he bought that car for 5,000 dollars.
31. To Blow Smoke
- Meaning: to intentionally say something with the purpose of misleading or deceiving them. To lie to someone.
- Use In A Sentence: I think Rodger is just blowing smoke about us breaking the law. I spoke with my friend who is a lawyer and he said we aren’t doing anything wrong.
There you have it! 31 common lie idioms. Did we miss one? If so, please share your thoughts in the comments below.
«Do lie down,» she added crossly, and buried her face in the pillow.
Do you not know, I said, that the true lie, if such an expression may be allowed, is hated of gods and men?
I mean that no one is willingly deceived in that which is the truest and highest part of himself, or about the truest and highest matters; there, above all, he is most afraid of a lie having possession of him.
The reason is, I replied, that you attribute some profound meaning to my words; but I am only saying that deception, or being deceived or uninformed about the highest realities in the highest part of themselves, which is the soul, and in that part of them to have and to hold the lie, is what mankind least like;—that, I say, is what they utterly detest.
And, as I was just now remarking, this ignorance in the soul of him who is deceived may be called the true lie; for the lie in words is only a kind of imitation and shadowy image of a previous affection of the soul, not pure unadulterated falsehood.
Between the two lies the broad belt, of comparative desert, which is the scene of this tale, appearing to interpose a barrier to the progress of the American people westward.
This is to my mind the nicest spot in Whitby, for it lies right over the town, and has a full view of the harbour and all up the bay to where the headland called Kettleness stretches out into the sea.
The harbour lies below me, with, on the far side, one long granite wall stretching out into the sea, with a curve outwards at the end of it, in the middle of which is a lighthouse.
I wonder masel’ who’d be bothered tellin’ lies to them, even the newspapers, which is full of fool-talk.»
After he had eaten he would lie down on his bed of straw, and Dorothy would lie beside him and put her head on his soft, shaggy mane, while they talked of their troubles and tried to plan some way to escape.
Again I was speaking the literal truth, and again congratulating myself as though it were a lie: the fellow looked so distressed at my state; indeed I believe that his distress was as genuine as mine, and his sentiments as involved.
But no; my troubles never left me for an instant; and there I must lie, pretending that they had!
To lie there helpless when Eva was expecting me, that would be the finishing touch.
And I lie so composedly, Now in my bed,(Knowing her love) That you fancy me dead — And I rest so contentedly, Now in my bed,(With her love at my breast) That you fancy me dead — That you shudder to look at me, Thinking me dead: —
And so it lies happily, Bathing in many A dream of the truth And the beauty of Annie — Drowned in a bath Of the tresses of Annie.
«Liver lives to see all!» — Живой человек до всего доживает!
Friday [ʹfraıdı] , 14 April [ʹeıprəl] 2023
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Фразы, идиомы, фразовые глаголы, сленг , примеры предложений
Идиоматические выражения,фразы
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a white lie
1. ложь во спасение; невинная ложь |
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lie down on the job
1. работать спустя рукава/с прохладцей |
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lie low (Am inf)
1. затихариться; «лечь на дно» (затаиться) |
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lie through one’s teeth
1. врать как сивый мерин; нагло лгать |
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As one make his bed, so he must lie on it
Как постелешь, так и поспишь; Что посеешь, то и пожнешь |
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As you make your bed, so you must lie on it
Как постелешь, так и поспишь; ср.: Что посеешь, то и пожнешь. |
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Children and fools can’t lie
Children and fools cannot lie |
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Children and fools cannot lie
Устами младенца глаголит истина |
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Let a sleeping dog lie
Не буди лихо, пока спит тихо; Не будите спящую собаку; От греха подальше |
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Let sleeping dogs lie
Не буди лихо, пока спит тихо; Не будите спящую собаку |
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lie down on the job
1. прекратить работать; отказаться работать; наплевать на работу; забросить работу; 2. работать спустя рукава |
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persue lie unsound price policy
вести неразумную ценообразовательную политику |
Nervous Nellie
A timid person who lacks determination and courage.
I say we will never win if we don’t stop being Nervous Nellies!
as soon as
had as soon
had as lief
Just after; when; immediately after.
As soon as the temperature falls to 70, the furnace is turned on.
As soon as you finish your job let me know.
He will see you as soon as he can.
As soon as it started to snow, the children ran outside with big smiles on their faces.
I’m busy now, but I’ll meet you as soon as I’ve finished this work.
as the crow flies
By the most direct way; along a straight line between two places.
It is seven miles to the next town as the crow flies, but it is ten miles by the road, which goes around the mountain.
believe in
To accept as true, have faith in.
Some people believe in being honest in all human affairs, while others accept the need to lie in order to get one’s way.
Throughout the history of man, some cultures have believed in one god while others have believed in the existence of many gods.
believe one’s ears
To believe what one hears; trust one’s hearing. Used with a negative or limiter, or in an interrogative or conditional sentence.
He thought he heard a horn blowing in the distance, but he could not believe his ears.
To be made sure of (something).
Is he really coming? I can hardly believe my ears.
believe one’s eyes
To believe what one sees; trust one’s eyesight. Used with a negative or limiter or in an interrogative or conditional sentence.
Is that a plane? Can I believe my eyes?
To be made sure of seeing something.
She saw him there but she could hardly believe her eyes.
butterflies in one’s stomach
A queer feeling in the stomach caused by nervous fear or uncertainty; a feeling of fear or anxiety in the stomach.
Ощущение дискомфорта в организме из-за нервного напряжения, неопределенности, возбуждения или страха.
When Bob walked into the factory office to ask for a job, he had butterflies in his stomach.
My sister always has butterflies in her stomach before a test.
У моей сестры всегда мандраж перед тестом.
I have butterflies in my stomach every time I see her.
Я волнуюсь каждый раз, когда я вижу ее.
give the lie to
To call (someone) a liar.
The police gave the lie to the man who said that he had been at home during the robbery.
To show (something) to be false; prove untrue.
The boy’s dirty face gave the lie to his answer that he had washed.
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“Liars need to have good memories.”
a French proverb
Before we get to the idioms related to truth and lies, let’s look at how the nouns are usually used:
TRUTH COLLOCATIONS
- to tell the truth: Tell me the truth. Did you break the vase? (say vs. tell)
- to learn the truth: I’ve got to learn the truth about my family.
- to find out the truth: When did you find out the truth? – Recently.
- to accept the truth: It may be hard to accept the sad truth.
- to hide the truth: Don’t try to hide the truth. The truth will out (used for saying that people will find out the truth about something, even if you try to keep it a secret).
Common adjective + truth collocations are: absolute, whole, full, simple, awful, horrible (truth)
LIE COLLOCATIONS
- to tell a lie: Don’t tell me lies!
- to swallow a lie: How could she swallow (believe) such a blatant /ˈbleɪt(ə)nt/ (obvious) lie?
- to live a lie: He lived a lie for 20 years, pretending to be the faithful husband of two different women living in two different towns.
Common adjective + lie collocations are: big, little, complete, white (a lie told to avoid making someone upset), elaborate /ɪˈlæb(ə)rət/ (detailed and complicated) (lie)
TRUTH IDIOMS
| Idiom | Meaning | Example |
| If truth be told/known
in truth (formal) |
to be honest
frankly speaking |
If truth be told, I’ve never really loved him.
In truth, the lecture could be better. |
| nothing could be further from the truth | it’s a complete lie | He is a bad person. – Nothing could be further from the truth! He is the best person I’ve ever known. |
| economical with the truth
(humorous) |
avoiding telling the truth, lying | I admit I’ve been economical with the truth. |
| to have a/the ring of truth | to seem to be true | Do you believe his story? – It has the ring of truth. |
| to spill (spilt; spilt) the beans | to tell someone something, often something that should be kept secret | Come on, spill the beans. Are you organizing a surprise party? |
| spill (spilt; spilt) the guts (American slang) | tell me everything you know (about sth.) | You’re in big trouble, so spill the guts! |
| honesty is the best policy | it’s always better to be honest | Honesty is the best policy. Just tell them what you really think. |
| in all honesty (colloquial) | to tell you the truth (especially when the truth is not something pleasant to hear) | I can’t, in all honesty, say that I like your singing. |
| in (all) fairness | used for making your criticism of someone or something seem less strong | I should say in all fairness to him that he’s not the most prominent scientist. |
| to come (came; come) clean | to tell the truth about something that you have kept secret | You need to come clean about/over/on your plans. Come clean with me! |
LIES IDIOMS
| Idiom | Meaning | Example |
| to throw (threw; thrown) dust in one’s eyes | to mislead (misled; misled), deceive sb. | Don’t even try to throw dust in my eyes! I see right through you (I understand the truth about you). |
| to pull the wool over sb’s eyes | to deceive, trick sb. | It’s so typical of him to try to pull the wool over people’s eyes. Don’t trust him! |
| funny business | dishonest actions or behavior intended to trick sb. | If you see any funny business, report to the authorities. |
| monkey business | behavior that is not acceptable or is dishonest | The teacher suspected that there had been some monkey business going on while he was out of the room. |
| to lie through one’s teeth | to tell sb. a complete lie | He’s lying through his teeth! Don’t you see? |
| to take (took; taken) sb. for a ride | to cheat or swindle sb. (to get money dishonestly from sb. by deceiving or cheating them) | They won’t take me for a ride! I know what they are up to (I know what bad (often illegal) things they are doing). |
| smoke and mirrors | behavior or information designed to hide the truth about a situation or create a false impression | The new budget is nothing but smoke and mirrors (it’s just smoke and mirrors). |
| to stretch the truth | to say sth. that is not completely honest in order to make sb. or sth. seem better than it really is | Don’t stretch the truth about how you got the A on the test. |
| to bend (bent; bent) the truth/the facts | to say sth. that is not completely true in order to achieve an aim | We all sometimes bend the truth, don’t we? |
| to play games | to try to deceive sb. | She’s just playing games. Her words mean nothing. |