lie

n.

1. An intentional misstatement

   falsehood, untruth, fib, fiction, hyperbole, fraudulence, inaccuracy, misstatement, myth, fable, deceptiveness, disinformation, barefaced lie, dirty lie, misrepresentation, inoperative statement, lying, untruthfulness, prevarication, mendacity, falsification, falseness, falsifying, subterfuge, defamation, detraction, tale, story, tall story, cock-and-bull story, calumny, fabrication, deception, slander, backbiting, calumniation, aspersion, revilement, untruism, vilification, reviling, false swearing, perjury, libel, forgery, distortion, obloquy, garbled version, guile, white lie, corker*, fish story*, lollapalooza*, whopper*, cock and bull*, crock*, moonshine*, hogwash*; see also dishonesty.

   Antonyms truth*, veracity*, truthfulness. *

2. Anything calculated to mislead another

   falsification, evasion, deceit; see deception 1, trick 1.

give the lie to

lie

v.

1. To utter an untruth

   falsify, prevaricate, fib, tell a lie, equivocate, fabricate, deceive, mislead, misinform, misrepresent, exaggerate, distort, misstate, misspeak, concoct, tell a falsehood, be untruthful, forswear, be a liar, dupe, pervert, slant, twist, overstate, embellish, embroider, overdraw, bear false witness, say one thing and mean another, dissimulate, dissemble, perjure oneself, delude, malign, invent, manufacture, make up, trump up, palter, beguile, tell a white lie, stretch the truth, spin a long yarn*, bull*, make out of whole cloth*.

2. To be situated

   extend, be on, be beside, be located, be fixed, be established, be placed, be seated, be set, be level, be smooth, be even, be plane, exist in space, prevail, endure, stretch along, reach along, spread along; see also occupy 2.

3. To be prostrate

   be recumbent, be helpless, be supine, be exhausted, be flat, be prone, sprawl, loll, laze, be stretched out, be powerless, be thrown down; see also sense 4, rest 2.

   Antonyms stand*, be upright, sit. *

4. To assume a prostrate position

   lie down, recline, repose, stretch out, couch, go to bed, turn in, retire, take a nap, take a siesta, hit the hay*; see also rest 1, sleep.

   Antonyms rise*, get up*, arise.

lie is the simple direct word meaning to make a deliberately false statement; prevaricate strictly means to quibble or confuse the issue in order to evade the truth, but it is loosely used as a formal or affected substitute for lie; equivocate implies the deliberate use of ambiguity in order to deceive or mislead; fabricate suggests the invention of a false story, excuse, etc. intended to deceive but may be somewhat softer in connotation than lie; fib implies the telling of a falsehood about something unimportant and is sometimes a euphemism for lie

take lying down