lying through your teeth

Meaning

1. 1phraseidiominformal

   Telling a deliberate, obvious lie, often with great confidence and no sign of shame.

   Grammar: Needs a form of be before it, and your changes to match the subject: she is lying through her teeth.

   Patterns

   • be lying through your teeth
   • lie through your teeth about something

   He said he had never met her, but he was lying through his teeth.

   I was lying through my teeth when I told her I loved the sweater.

   The salesman was lying through his teeth about how many people had bought the car.

Common combinations

accuse someone of lying through their teeth

She accused the manager of lying through his teeth.

know someone is lying through their teeth

I know he is lying through his teeth about the money.

be lying through your teeth about

You are lying through your teeth about that deadline.

caught lying through their teeth

The witness was caught lying through his teeth.

Synonyms and how they differ

lying openly

Lying openly is a plain description, but lying through your teeth adds the idea of shameless confidence.

fibbing

Fibbing is for small, harmless untruths, which is the opposite of the serious lie in this idiom.

bluffing

Bluffing suggests pretending to hold a strong position, while lying through your teeth is just stating a falsehood.

fabricating

Fabricating means inventing something false, usually with more planning, and sounds more formal.

Opposites

Word family

lie verb

to say what is not true

liar noun

a person who lies

lie noun

a false statement

lying noun

the act of telling lies

Commonly confused: lying through your teeth or lying down?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “lying through your teeth”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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