mendacious
adjective
Did you know?
Mendacious and lying have very similar meanings, but the two are not interchangeable. Mendacious is more formal and literary, suggesting a deception harmless enough to be considered somewhat bland. Lying is more blunt, accusatory, and often confrontational. You might yell, "You lying rat!" in an argument, but you would most likely stick to the more diplomatic, "Aren't you being somewhat mendacious?" in a business meeting. Mendacious can also imply habitual untruthfulness, whereas lying is more likely to be used to identify specific instances of dishonesty.
Examples of mendacious in a Sentence
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
Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 18 July 2025
The true story reveals both how freedom of speech first came to be conceived of as a mechanism for truth, an antidote to falsehood, and the foundation of all liberty—and that, ironically, this new and powerful theory was itself a deliberately mendacious fiction.
—Fara Dabhoiwala, Harpers Magazine, 4 June 2025
Impulsive, egocentric, and mendacious, Trump has, in the same span, set fire to the integrity of his office.
—David Remnick, New Yorker, 27 Apr. 2025
Trump’s contrived veneer is being ripped away to reveal an immoral, mendacious, transactional opportunist, without a shred of loyalty to anyone or anything but himself.
—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 21 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for mendacious
Cite this Entry
“Mendacious.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mendacious. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
mendacious
adjective
Share