pack of lies
8
5.0
- noun
- Informal
:
montón de mentiras
- The whole thing sounds like a pack of lies.
- told a pack of lies
- just a pack of lies
The consent psychiatrist stood up and told a pack of lies, literally a pack of lies.
- The consent psychiatrist stood up and told a pack of lies, literally a pack of lies.
Examples
-
It's a pack of lies, and you know it.
Fiction book (1997) -
What a pack of lies.
Fiction book (2000) -
You told us a pack of lies.
-
Now they want to come up with this pack of lies.
-
And this... this statement is just a pack of lies!
-
This is a pack of lies!
-
It's a pack of lies!
-
Well, we heard that tune before from both of you, and it turned out to be a pack of lies.
Blog text (13) -
You've been telling me a pack of lies and I believed them.
-
The politician was caught spreading a pack of lies during his campaign.
Synonyms
∞
2.7
A false statement told to trick someone
29
6.5
A false story made to trick people
12
9.9
A false story that people tell to make others believe something untrue
Antonyms
How Deceptive
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is compositionally built from 'pack' (a group) and 'lies' (false statements) using a standard 'X of Y' noun phrase pattern, so a learner who knows the constituents can infer 'a group/series of untrue statements.' Although it functions as an emphatic way to call something fabricated, the meaning is directly derivable from the parts and parallels constructions in many languages.
Etymology
Pack of lies likely comes from the image of a pack, a bundle or group of things, filled with lies, for example a bundle of false stories someone might carry. That clear image of many untrue stories tied together is why it means 'a group of completely untrue statements'.