#544. Falsehood. -- N. falsehood, falseness; falsity, falsification; deception &c. 545; untruth &c 546; guile; lying &c. 454; untruth &c 546; guile; lying &c. v. misrepresentation; mendacity, perjury, false swearing; forgery, invention, fabrication; subreption[obs]; covin[obs].
perversion of truth, suppression of truth; suppressio veri[Lat]; perversion, distortion, false coloring; exaggeration &c 549; prevarication, equivocation, shuffling, fencing, evasion, fraud; suggestio falsi &c (lie) 546[Lat]; mystification &c (concealment) 528; simulation &c (imitation) 19; dissimulation, dissembling; deceit; blague[obs].
sham; pretense, pretending, malingering.
lip homage, lip service; mouth honor; hollowness; mere show, mere outside; duplicity, double dealing, insincerity, hypocrisy, cant, humbug; jesuitism, jesuitry; pharisaism; Machiavelism, "organized hypocrisy"; crocodile tears, mealy-mouthedness[obs], quackery; charlatanism[obs], charlatanry; gammon; bun-kum[obs], bumcombe, flam; bam*[obs], flimflam, cajolery, flattery; Judas kiss; perfidy &c (bad faith) 940; il volto sciolto i pensieri stretti[It].
unfairness &c (dishonesty) 940; artfulness &c (cunning) 702; misstatement &c (error) 495.
V. be false &c adj., be a liar &c 548; speak falsely &c adv.; tell a lie &c. 546; lie, fib; lie like a trooper; swear false, forswear, perjure oneself, bear false witness.
misstate, misquote, miscite[obs], misreport, misrepresent; belie, falsify, pervert, distort; put a false construction upon &c. (misinterpret)
prevaricate, equivocate, quibble; palter, palter to the understanding; repondre en Normand[Fr]; trim, shuffle, fence, mince the truth, beat about the bush, blow hot and cold, play fast and loose.
garble, gloss over, disguise, give a color to; give a gloss, put a gloss, put false coloring upon; color, varnish, cook, dress up, embroider; varnish right and puzzle wrong; exaggerate &c 549; blague[obs].
invent, fabricate; trump up, get up; force, fake, hatch, concoct; romance &c (imagine) 515; cry "wolf!'
dissemble, dissimulate; feign, assume, put on, pretend, make believe; play possum; play false, play a double game; coquet; act a part, play a part; affect &c. 855; simulate, pass off for; counterfeit, sham, make a show of; malinger; say the grapes are sour.
cant, play the hypocrite, sham Abraham, faire pattes de velours, put on the mask, clean the outside of the platter, lie like a conjuror; hand out false colors, hold out false colors, sail under false colors; "commend the poisoned chalice to the lips" [Macbeth]; ambiguas in vulgum spargere voces [Lat]; deceive &c 545.
Adj. false, deceitful, mendacious, unveracious, fraudulent, dishonest, faithless, truthless, trothless; unfair, uncandid; hollow-hearted; evasive; uningenuous, disingenuous; hollow, sincere, Parthis mendacior; forsworn.
artificial, contrived; canting; hypocritical, jesuitical, pharisaical; tartuffish; Machiavelian; double, double tongued, double faced, double handed, double minded, double hearted, double dealing; Janus faced; smooth- faced, smooth spoken, smooth tongued; plausible; mealy-mouthed; affected &c 855.
collusive, collusory; artful &c. (cunning) 702; perfidious &c 940; spurious &c (deceptive) 545; untrue &c 546; falsified &c v.; covinous.
Adv. falsely &c adj.; a la tartufe, with a double tongue; silly &c (cunning) 702.
Phr. blandae mendacia lingua[Lat]; falsus in uno falsus in omnibus[Lat]; "I give him joy that's awkward at a lie" [Young]; la mentira tiene las piernas cortas [Sp]; "O what a goodly outside falsehood hath" [Merchant of Venice].