Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Fib |
FibNoun1. A trivial lie; "he told a fib about eating his spinach"; "how can I stop my child from telling stories?". Verb1. Tell a relatively insignificant lie; "Fibbing is not acceptable, even if you don't call it lying". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "fib" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1749. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Satire | FIB, n. A lie that has not cut its teeth. An habitual liar's nearest approach to truth: the perigee of his eccentric orbit. When David said: "All men are liars," Dave, Himself a liar, fibbed like any thief. Perhaps he thought to weaken disbelief By proof that even himself was not a slave To Truth; though I suspect the aged knave Had been of all her servitors the chief Had he but known a fig's reluctant leaf Is more than e'er she wore on land or wave. No, David served not Naked Truth when he Struck that sledge-hammer blow at all his race; Nor did he hit the nail upon the head: For reason shows that it could never be, And the facts contradict him to his face. Men are not liars all, for some are dead. Bartle Quinker. Source: Devil's Dictionary. |
Literature | Fib An attendant on Queen Mab in Drayton's Nymphidia. Fib, meaning a falsehood, is the Latin fabula, a fable. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
FIB | Dutch | Voorwaarts identicatiebit | Electrical Engineering |
FIB | English | Federal Information Bank | N/A |
FIB | French | Bloc d'information rapide | N/A |
FIB | Italian | Bit indicatore in avanti | Electrical Engineering |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonyms: FibSynonyms: story (n), tale (n), taradiddle (n), tarradiddle (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Contention | Verb: contend; contest, strive, struggle, scramble, wrestle; spar, square; exchange blows, exchange fisticuffs; fib, justle, tussle, tilt, box, stave, fence; skirmish; pickeer; fight; (war); wrangle; (quarrel). |
Falsehood | Verb: be false; Adjective:, be a liar; speak falsely; adVerb: tell a lie; lie, fib; lie like a trooper; swear false, forswear, perjure oneself, bear false witness. |
Untruth | Noun: untruth, falsehood, lie, story, thing that is not, fib, bounce, crammer, taradiddle, whopper; jhuth. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Fib |
| English words defined with "fib": Fibbed ♦ story ♦ tale, taradiddle, tarradiddle. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "fib": tail recursion, TARADIDDLE, tupling. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Yes, I did. But you don't think I'd stoop to telling a fib! (Arsenic and Old Lace; writing credit: Ryuzo Kikushima; Akira Kurosawa) I know I fib a good deal (A Streetcar Named Desire; writing credit: Tennessee Williams; Oscar Saul) One fib for a broken date (Midnight Lace; writing credit: Janet Green; Ivan Goff) Don't fib. (Angel; writing credit: Letícia Dornelles) Fib. It's lying only classier (Angel; writing credit: Letícia Dornelles) | |
Movie/TV Titles | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
| ||
Periodicals |
| ||
Theater & Movies | |||
High Tech |
| ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| "Fib" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 75.00% of the time. "Fib" is used about 24 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 75% | 18 | 82,615 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 12.5% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Noun (proper) | 8.33% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 4.17% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 24 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "fib": fib occasionally ♦ tell a fib. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
fib | 138 |
aktuellt fib | 71 |
atrial fib | 57 |
v fib | 9 |
cystic fib | 6 |
dor fib r | 4 |
aktuell fib | 4 |
fib fracture tib | 4 |
aktuelt fib | 3 |
fib finder | 3 |
2003 fib | 2 |
arterial fib | 2 |
fib service | 2 |
fib heart | 2 |
fib tib | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "fib"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | them një gënjeshtër (flam), goditje (assault, bang, bash, batting, beat, biff, blow, buffet, bump, cant, chop, clean and jerk, clip, dash, dint, drive, flap, hit, ictus, impingement, incitement, infliction, jab, joggle, jolt, knock, knocking, lick, percussion, poke, pound, push, shock, slat, sock, stimulus, strike, stroke, thrust, thwack, tremor, welt), gënjeshtër (circumvention, deceit, deceitfulness, double dealing, fable, flam, fudge, leasing, lie, lurk, mendacity, oner, prevarication, sklent, taradiddle, twister, untruth), gënjej (bamboozle, beguile, cheat, deceive, defraud, frig, gull, lie, string along with, tell fibs, tell lies). (various references) | |
Arabic | كذب (contradict, deceive, delude, disclaim, dishonesty, fable, falsehood, falseness, falsify, falsity, impugn, lie, lying, mendacity, mislead, untruth), ضرب (batter, battery, beat, beat off, belabour, biff, buffet, chastise, connect, curry, description, drub, drubbing, flap, flapping, form, galvanize, genre, go getter, grain, hit, hitting, impact, jabbing, kidney, kind, lace, lace into smb., lam, larrup, let out, lock out, manner, multiplication, multiply, order, overtake, paddle, paste, pasting, patter, poke, pommel, pound, pummel, slash, slosh, sock, sort, stamp, strike, stripe, tan, tanning, thrash, thrashing, thresh, variety, wallop, whip), أكذوبة. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | послъгвам (stretch the truth), измислица (concoction, excogitation, fable, fabrication, fairy tale, fake, fiction, figment, flam, hoax, invention, make believe, make up, myth, nonentity, tale, tall story, taradiddle), дребна лъжа (story, taradiddle). (various references) | |
Czech | nevinná lež (white lie), lež (falsehood, leasing, lie, lying, untruth). (various references) | |
Finnish | hätävalhe (white lie), hätätila (white lie). (various references) | |
French | mensonge (fibs). (various references) | |
German | schwindeln (cheat, con, gyp, make dizzy, swindle), flunkern (lie, make up, tell a lie, tell stories). (various references) | |
Greek | μούσι (beard, goatee), ψεματάκι, ψευτιά (deceit, falsity), ψευδολογώ (tell lies). (various references) | |
Hebrew | לשקר (betray, deceive, lie, swindle), ב"י" (fabrication, falsehood, fiction, legend), ב"ות" (fabrication, falsehood, fish story, tale). (various references) | |
Hungarian | füllentés (story, taradiddle, white lie). (various references) | |
Indonesian | pembohong (liar, pretender, rook), bikinan (artificial). (various references) | |
Italian | raccontare frottole. (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 嘘'吐く (to fib, to tell a lie). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | うそ'つく (to fib, to tell a lie). (various references) | |
Manx | insh flippyn, insh breageenyn, flipperagh (tell a lie), flip (lie, swipe, thwack, whisk, whisk of tail), breageen (half lie, white lie). (various references) | |
Norwegian | liten løgn. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ibfay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | soco (blow, bop, jab, lunge, paste, patten, punch, sabot, sock, socle, stroke, supporting base, thump, wallop), mentira sem importância, mentira pequena, maltratar (abuse, bully, ill-treat, ill-use, maltreat, manhandle, maul, mishandle, mistreat, misuse, mob), gracejar (banter, droll, frolic, fun, jape, jest, joke, josh, kid, lark, tease, trifle), contar histórias (kid). (various references) | |
Romanian | nãscocire (concoction, contrivance, discovery, fable, fabrication, figment, invention, lie, make up, tale, yarn), minciunã (bung, deceit, fabrication, falsehood, gag, lie, lying, tale, untruth), minţi (lie, rook, sham, stretch, thump), loviturã (attack, bang, bat, beat, beating, blow, box, bump, burglary, butt, calamity, cant, clap, clip, coup, cuff, dash, drive, flap, go, heading, hit, hunch, hurt, jab, jolt, kick, knock, lick, master stroke, pelt, push, round, set back, shack, shock, shot, slash, sling, smack, smash, stab, stick, strike, stroke, sweep, thrust), lovi (assail, attack, batter, beat, befall, buffet, bump, catch, clap, crack, cuff, cut, dab, drive, drub, flap, hammer, harm, hit, hurt, impact, infect, injure, jar, knock, lash, lay hands on, lunge at, Pat, put, reach, seize, shock, slam, slap, smite, spank, strike, swat, swinge, switch, tap, thrust, thump, touch, whack, whip, wipe, wound, wrong), iznoavã, istorie (history, story), cârpiturã (bungling, darn, rag), bãrbieri (beard, shave). (various references) | |
Russian | врать, выдумка (brain-child, contrivance, fabrication, fairytale, figment, make up, storytelling), ложь (cracker, crammer, fabrication, falsehood, leasing, lie, lying, mendacity, taradiddle, terminological inexactitudes, untruth). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | mala laž, lagati (lie, tell a lie). (various references) | |
Spanish | mentirilla, mentirijilla, mentira (counterfeit, deceit, deception, falsehood, flam, invention, juggle, libel, lie, mendacity, prevarication, story, untruth), mentir (lie, prevaricate, tell a lie), embuste (lie, swindle, trick, whopper), decir mentirillas, bola (ball, balloon, bowl, bull, bullet, chunk, clod, Corker, egg, humbug, lump, marble, pellet, polish, slam, wood). (various references) | |
Swedish | småljuga, narras (cheat, tell a fib), liten lögn, en liten lögn. (various references) | |
Thai | พู"โกหกเล็กๆ น้อยๆ, คำพู"โกหกเรื่องเล็กน้อย. (various references) | |
Turkish | zararsız yalan (white lie), yalan söylemek (fabricate, lie, prevaricate, tell a fib, tell a lie), yalan (deceit, fabrication, falsehood, falseness, flam, gammon, hollow, invention, lie, made up, mendacious, plumper, prevarication, quack, sham, shave, tale, taradiddle, tarradiddle, tell a lie, telltale, untrue, untruth, untruthful), uydurmak (accommodate, adapt, adjust, attune, concoct, conform, cook, cook up, dream up, fabricate, fake up, fashion, feign, fit, forge, frame, fudge, gear, improvise, invent, key, make up, manufacture, mint, quadrate, reconcile, romance, spin, Square, square with, suit, syntonize, tailor, talk through one's hat, tally up, tell a fib, trump up, tune, tune up), uydurma (adjustment, apocryphal, arranging, cardboard box, coinage, colorable, concoction, fabled, fabrication, fabulous, fake, false, falsification, fiction, fictitious, fictive, figment, fitting, flam, gold brick, improvisation, improvised, invention, made up, making up, mendacious, out of whole cloth, quack, tosh, trumped-up, tuning, untrue, untruth, untruthful), atmak (affix, beat, blow, blow out, cashier, cast, cast away, cast off, catapult, chuck, chuck away, chuck out, dart, dash, deliver, discharge, doff, draw the longbow, drop, eject, elbow out, elbow smb. out, eliminate, fabricate, fetch, flash, fling, fling away, fling out, fuse, fuze, give a kick, heave, hurl, inflict, insert, invent, junk, launch, let fly, loose, loose off, order off, peg, peg at, pelt, pitch, precipitate, project, pulsate, pulse, put, scutch, send, shoot, shoot out, shy, sling, tell a fib, tell lies, throw, throw away, throw into, toss, uncork, utter, void). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | вигадувати (coin, conceit, concoct, contrive, devise, dream up, excogitate, fabricate, feign, fudge, invent, make believe, mint, romance, think out), вигадка (artifice, caulker, excogitation, fabrication, figment, fudge, invention, make believe, wrinkle), вигадник (contriver, fibber, inventor, romancer), лупцювати (baste, belabour, flail, hit out, lambaste, lick, pommel, pummel, whang), брехня (bouncer, bung, caulker, crammer, falsehood, falsity, flam, fudge, leasing, lie, lying, spinach, untruth, windy, yap), брехати (lie, peach, yap). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | chuyện bịa (yarn), điều nói dối nhỏ. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "fib": fibbed, fibber, fibbers, fibbing, fiber, fiberboard, fiberboards, fibered, fiberfill, fiberfills, fiberglass, fiberglassed, fiberglasses, fiberglassing, fiberization, fiberizations, fiberize, fiberized, fiberizes, fiberizing, fiberoptic, fiberoptics, fibers, fiberscope, fiberscopes, fibranne, fibrannes, fibre, fibreboard, fibreboards, fibrefill, fibrefills, fibreglass, fibreglasses, fibres, fibril, fibrilla, fibrillae, fibrillar, fibrillate, fibrillated, fibrillates, fibrillating, fibrillation, fibrillations, fibrils, fibrin, fibrinogen, fibrinogens, fibrinoid, fibrinoids. (additional references) | |
Words containing "fib": clofibrate, clofibrates, defibrillate, defibrillated, defibrillates, defibrillating, defibrillation, defibrillations, defibrillator, defibrillators, defibrinate, defibrinated, defibrinates, defibrinating, defibrination, defibrinations, infibulate, infibulated, infibulates, infibulating, infibulation, infibulations, interfiber, microfibril, microfibrillar, microfibrils, myelofibroses, myelofibrosis, myelofibrotic, myofibril, myofibrillar, myofibrils, neurofibril, neurofibrillary, neurofibrils, neurofibroma, neurofibromas, neurofibromata, neurofibromatoses, neurofibromatosis, tibiofibula, tibiofibulae, tibiofibulas. (additional references) | |
| |
"Fib" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: cib, faba, Fabc, fabi, fabt, farb, fasb, fawb, fb, Fbie, Fbim, fbr, feba, feeb, feib, Ffi, fia, fiba, Fibak, fibe, Fibi, fibo, fibu, fiby, fic, fieb, fif, Fih, fii, fij, fik, fim, fio, fip, fiq, fitba, fiu, fiv, fiw, Fixby, fiy, flb, flib, flibi, foab, fobb, fobi, foby, foib, frib, fyb, Fyba, kib, pibb, qfi, Ufb, vib, zib. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "b-f-i" | |
-1 letter: bi, if. | |
| Words containing the letters "b-f-i" | |
+1 letter: biff, fibs. | |
+2 letters: befit, biffs, biffy, bifid, brief, buffi, fiber, fibre. | |
+3 letters: basify, befits, belief, biface, biffed, biffin, biflex, bifold, biform, boffin, bowfin, briefs, fabric, fibbed, fibber, fibers, fibres, fibril, fibrin, fibula, fimble, foible, forbid, subfix. | |
+4 letters: backfit, baffies, baffing, bailiff, barefit, barfing, batfish, beatify, beefier, beefily, beefing, beliefs, benefic, benefit, bifaces, biffies, biffing, biffins, bifidly, bifilar, bifocal, bigfeet, bigfoot, bluefin, boffing, boffins, boiloff, bonfire, bowfins, boxfish, briefed, briefer, briefly, brimful, brutify, buffier, buffing, debrief, fabliau, fabling, fabrics, fatbird, febrile, fibbers, fibbing, fibered, fibrils, fibrins, fibroid, fibroin, fibroma, fibrous, fibulae, fibular, fibulas, filbert, filibeg, fimbles, fimbria, finable, finback, firebox, firebug, fixable, fobbing, foibles, forbids, freebie, friable, fribble, frisbee, fubbing, fubsier, furbish, fusible, fusibly, lobefin, subfile, tubifex, verbify, zombify. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Usage Frequency 7. Expressions 8. Expressions: Internet | 9. Translations: Modern 10. Abbreviations 11. Acronyms 12. Derivations | 13. Anagrams 14. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
