white lie
18
3.4
- noun
- /waɪt laɪ/
- Informal
:
mentira piadosa
- It's a little lie, a little white lie to protect the bigger truth.
- a little white lie
- to tell white lies
- just a white lie
This was simply a kind of a white lie to enable someone to be happy.
- This was simply a kind of a white lie to enable someone to be happy.
- They are giving white lies, so to speak.
- Those so-called harmless white lies are not going to fly with us.
- I grew up with white lies, you know, and she goes, no, like not a single white lie ever again.
- I mean, he would lose, you know, and like Jordan would not tell a white lie.
- If you become obsessed with someone who is on the dark side, Another way is the little white lie that can start snowballing.
- So I kind of told him this really bad little white lie because I just wanted to get free drinks, but they bought it really well.
- Another way is the little white lie that can start snowballing and pretty soon you're doing a huge cover up.
- And I don't care if it's just little white lies about where they were or where they spent their money or who they were hanging out with.
- No, that that was if you're telling fibs, even little white lies, you're bad.
- And I'm talking like white lies, like I my inner monologue changed.
- Is it OK to lie sometimes or little white lies?
- But overall people will will appreciate far more than negative feedback that can be useful over a white lie that isn't going to help them to learn and to grow.
Examples
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This was simply a kind of a white lie to enable someone to be happy.
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A little white lie never killed anyone.
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It's just a little white lie.
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Even a little white lie can sometimes trip a man up.
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I just had to tell a little white lie to get him out of something.
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A new relationship is always filled with a few white lies and many secrets.
Blog text (6) -
Bah, it's just a little white lie.
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It was a white lie.
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And I didn't want you to go, so yes, I told you a little white lie.
Fiction book (1994) -
Sometimes, telling a white lie can spare someone's feelings in a tough situation.
Synonyms
Antonyms
How Serious
Surface Forms
Morphology
The adjective 'white' is used metaphorically to signal innocence or harmlessness, so combining it with 'lie' yields a predictable meaning — a lie that is not serious or meant to hurt. However, because 'white' is a metaphorical color extension rather than a literal descriptor and equivalent formulations vary across languages, some B1 learners may need prior exposure to be fully confident.
Etymology
The noun white lie may come from the idea of white meaning 'pure' or 'harmless' and lie meaning 'not true'. So, a white lie is a small, harmless lie told to avoid hurting someone's feelings.