White Lie

Definition: White Lie

White Lie

Noun

1. An unimportant lie (especially one told to be tactful or polite).

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Slang in 1811

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Concealment

Reticence; reserve; mental reserve, reservation; arriere pensee, suppression, evasion, white lie, misprision; silence; (taciturnity); suppression of truth; underhand dealing; closeness, secretiveness; Adjective: mystery.

Cunning

Art, artifice; device, machination; plot; (plan); maneuver, stratagem, dodge, sidestep, artful dodge, wile; trick, trickery; (deception); ruse, ruse de guerre; finesse, side blow, thin end of the wedge, shift, go by, subterfuge, evasion; white lie; (untruth); juggle, tour de force; tricks of the trade, tricks upon travelers; espieglerie; net, trap.

Dissuasion

Pretense; (untruth); put off, dust thrown in the eyes; blind; moonshine; mere pretext, shallow pretext; lame excuse, lame apology; tub to a whale; false plea, sour grapes; makeshift, shift, white lie; special pleading; (sophistry); soft sawder; (flattery).

Equivocalness

Equivocation; (duplicity); white lie, mental reservation; (concealment); paltering.

Untruth

Irony; half truth, white lie, pious fraud; mental reservation; (concealment).

Even a little white lie can sometimes trip a man up. (Assault on Precinct 13; writing credit: John Carpenter)

The White Lie (1925)

White Lie (1991)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Books

• Great White Lie (reference)

• Jimmy and the White Lie (reference)

• The Wedding and the Little White Lie (Silhouette Yours Truly) (reference)

• The White Lie (reference)

• The White Lie Assignment (reference)

  (more book examples)

Theater & Movies

• White Lie (reference)

  (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music

• Little White Lie [IMPORT] (reference)

• White Lie (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Expression using "white lie": a white lie. Additional references.

Bulgarian 

невинна лъжа, добронамерена лъжа. (various references)

Czech

zbožná lež, nevinná lež (fib). (various references)

Finnish

hätävalhe (fib), hätätila (fib). (various references)

French

pieux mensonge. (various references)

German

eine Notlüge (a white lie). (various references)

Greek 

αθώο ψεύδοσ. (various references)

Hungarian

füllentés (fib, story, taradiddle), ártatlan hazugság. (various references)

Manx

breageen (fib, half lie). (various references)

Pig Latin

itewhay ielay

Romanian

o minciunã nevinovatã (a white lie). (various references)

Russian 

невинный ложь, ложь во спасение. (various references)

Swedish

nödlögn. (various references)

Turkish

zararsız yalan (fib), beyaz yalan. (various references)

Isoptera, Picea abies. (various references)

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-3 letters: elite, lethe, lithe, wheel, while, white, withe.

-4 letters: elhi, heel, heil, hili, hilt, leet, lite, lwei, teel, tele, thee, thew, tile, twee, weel, weet, welt, whee, whet, whit, wile, wilt, wite, with.

-5 letters: eel, eth, ewe, het, hew, hie, hit, lee, lei, let, lie, lit, tee, tel, tew, the, tie, til, wee, wet.

+2 letters: whiteflies.

+4 letters: middleweight, weightlifter.

+5 letters: middleweights, weightlifters.