Definition of MENDACIOUS

Choose the Right Synonym for mendacious

dishonest, deceitful, mendacious, untruthful mean unworthy of trust or belief. dishonest implies a willful perversion of truth in order to deceive, cheat, or defraud. a swindle usually involves two dishonest people deceitful usually implies an intent to mislead and commonly suggests a false appearance or double-dealing. the secret affairs of a deceitful spouse mendacious may suggest bland or even harmlessly mischievous deceit and when used of people often suggests a habit of telling untruths. mendacious tales of adventure untruthful stresses a discrepancy between what is said and fact or reality. an untruthful account of their actions

Examples of mendacious in a Sentence

Indeed, the racist and Malthusian elements in Darwin's work are subjects on which the new secularists are either silent, delicate, or mendacious. — Eugene McCarraher, Commonweal, 15 June 2007 A choice item in the collection of mendacious stories that were circulated about Columbus after his death is this. Columbus lost himself on the way to Hispaniola, and only by virtue of letters and pilots sent by Martín Alonso did he manage to find the island and join Pinta. — Samuel Eliot Morison, Admiral of the Ocean Sea, 1942 Mildred had become great friends with her and had given her an elaborate but mendacious account of the circumstances which had brought her to the pass she was in. — W. Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage, 1915 The newspaper story was mendacious and hurtful. that tabloid routinely publishes the most moronically mendacious stories about celebrities

Recent Examples on the Web Welcome to Colorado, your sanctuary state, according to the twisted and mendacious logic of the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. — Doug Friednash, The Denver Post, "Friednash: ICE officials are weaving a false web about Colorado’s “sanctuary state”," 5 Dec. 2019 All this relies on the invention of mendacious attributes, conferring on millions of diverse people implausible character flaws or virtues. — BostonGlobe.com, "You're using a browser set to private or incognito mode.," 12 Oct. 2019 If someone is mendacious, know enough to walk away. — Eugenia Last, The Mercury News, "Horoscopes: Aug. 26, 2019," 26 Aug. 2019 But it could be argued that consumers are dealing with many of the same issues, from devious advertising to mendacious propaganda. — Michael J. Socolow, Smithsonian, "In its Heyday, Mad Magazine Was a Lot More Than Silly Jokes," 11 May 2018 The purveyors of disinformation may indeed need to change their approaches to spreading mendacious or otherwise deceitful content over social media. — Dipayan Ghosh And Ben Scott, Time, "Disinformation Is Becoming Unstoppable," 24 Jan. 2018 The C.D.C. produced, in 2004, a mendacious paper concluding that water-lead levels in the city were lower and less concerning than had been reported, and that no children with dangerously high blood-lead levels had been found. — Sarah Larson, The New Yorker, "Flint and the Long Struggle Against Lead Poisoning," 4 Feb. 2016

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'mendacious.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.