Meaning & use
mendacity
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Meanings
noununcountabledisapproving
The habit of lying, or a general readiness to say things that are not true.
Grammar: A mass noun used to criticize a pattern: the mendacity of politicians.
Patterns
- the mendacity of someone
- accuse someone of mendacity
The report exposed the mendacity of the company's top officials.
Critics accused the minister of mendacity.
Her mendacity cost her the trust of everyone in the office.
nouncountablerare
A particular lie or false statement.
Grammar: Rare and formal, in the plural mendacities: a series of mendacities.
Patterns
- a mendacity
The speech was full of small mendacities that went unnoticed.
He repeated the mendacity until people believed it.
Word forms
| plural | mendacities |
|---|
Common combinations
- sheer mendacity
- The audience was shocked by the sheer mendacity of the claim.
- political mendacity
- The essay explores political mendacity in modern campaigns.
- accuse of mendacity
- The lawyer accused the witness of mendacity.
- breathtaking mendacity
- The report displayed breathtaking mendacity.
- a tissue of mendacity
- The testimony was a tissue of mendacity.
Synonyms and how they differ
- dishonesty
- Dishonesty is broader and covers cheating and stealing, while mendacity is specifically about lying.
- untruthfulness
- Untruthfulness is a plain and neutral term, whereas mendacity sounds more severe and literary.
- deceit
- Deceit includes any act meant to mislead, not just spoken lies.
- falsehood
- Falsehood usually names a single false statement, while mendacity is the habit of telling them.
Opposites
Word family
- mendacious adjective
- not telling the truth, given to lying
- mendaciously adverb
- in a lying or untruthful way
- mendaciousness noun
- the quality of being mendacious
- mendacities noun
- plural, meaning lies
Commonly confused: mendacity or mendicant?
mendacity vs mendicant
A mendicant is a beggar, often a religious one, and the word is unrelated to lying despite the similar start.
Practice
Which word best completes the sentence: The judge was disturbed by the witness's ___, since nearly every statement was false.
Choose one answer.
Mendacity means a habit of lying, which fits a witness whose statements were false. Candor and sincerity mean honesty, and humility is unrelated.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “mendacity”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.