lie, verb 1
from Old English legan, ligan, earlier leogan "deceive, belie, betray"
☣ Middle English lien
a word of uncertain etymology; not found in Latin, Greek, or Sanskrit
lie, noun 1
"an untruth; conscious and intentional falsehood, false statement made with intent to deceive"
from Old English lyge, lige "lie, falsehood"
Middle English lie, from the root of lie, verb 1
lie, verb 2
from Old English licgan "be situated, have a specific position; remain; be at rest, lie down"
☣ Middle English lien
from PIE root *legh- "to lie down, lay"
lie, noun 2
1690s, "manner of lying, relative position" from lie, verb 2
lie noun
- an untruth; a conscious inversion/perversion of that what is
Whatever is being nurtured, grows.
What grows will have many words to describe the intricacies of its variations.
Why should there be so many words for a falsehood?
- bluff
a false threat or claim intended to deter or deceive someone; an act or instance of bluffing
- craftiness
skill at gaining an advantage over others, esp. by underhand means; cunning, deviousness.
also with positive overtones (esp. in later use)
- crookery
crooked dealings or practices; from crook: "a shepherd's staff, having one end curved or hooked, for catching the hinder leg of a sheep"
- deceit
the action or practice of deceiving; concealment of the truth in order to mislead; deception, fraud, cheating, false dealing
- deception
the action of deceiving or cheating
- dishonesty
the reverse of honesty; lack of probity or integrity; disposition to deceive, defraud, or steal; thievishness; theft, fraud
- double-dealing
action contradictory to a professed attitude; duplicity
- duplicity
contradictory doubleness of thought, speech, or action
- fabrication
a product of fabrication; especially: lie, falsehood
- fakery
the practice of faking something; deception, trickery, fraud
- falsehood
an uttered untruth; a lie; also, false statements, uttered untruth, in general
- falseness
contrariety to fact; want of reality or truth; falsehood, unreality
- falsity
the quality or condition of being false; contrariety or want of conformity to truth or fact; also an instance of this
- fib
a trivial or childish lie
- fraud
deceit, trickery; specifically: intentional perversion of truth in order to induce another to part with something of value or to surrender a legal right
- fraudulence
the quality or state of being fraudulent (characterized by, based on, or done by fraud)
- guile
insidious cunning, deceit, treachery
- guilefulness
the quality of being guileful; deceitfulness; treachery
- half-truth
a statement that mingles truth and falsehood with deliberate intent to deceive
- hoax
an act intended to trick or dupe: imposture; something accepted or established by fraud or fabrication
- hypocrisy
the assuming of a false appearance of virtue or goodness, with dissimulation of real character or inclinations
- lying
the telling of lies
- mendacity
the quality of being mendacious; the tendency or disposition to lie or deceive; habitual lying or deceiving; falsehood
- misreport
a false or incorrect report, esp. of the actions or character of a person
- misrepresentation
wrong or incorrect representation of facts, statements, the character of a person, etc.; the action of misrepresenting someone or something
- obliquity
indirectness or deliberate obscurity of speech or conduct
- perfidy
deceitfulness, untrustworthiness; breach of faith or of a promise; betrayal of trust; treachery
- perjury
the voluntary violation of an oath or vow either by swearing to what is untrue or by omission to do what has been promised under oath : false swearing
- pretense
a false, feigned, or hypocritical profession or show, esp. of a quality, emotion, etc.
- propaganda
the systematic dissemination of information, esp. in a biased or misleading way, in order to promote a particular cause or point of view, often a political agenda. Also: information disseminated in this way; the means or media by which such ideas are disseminated.
- ruse
a trick, stratagem, or wile
- shenanigan
trickery, skulduggery, machination, intrigue; teasing, ‘kidding’, nonsense; (usually plural) a plot, a trick, a prank, an exhibition of high spirits
- shiftiness
the quality or character of being shifty (in various senses of shifty, adj.); (now) esp. evasiveness; furtiveness; dishonesty
- sleight
deceitful craftiness; also: strategem
- stratagem
an artifice or trick in war for deceiving and outwitting the enemy; a cleverly contrived trick or scheme for gaining an end; skill in ruses or trickery
- subterfuge
deception by artifice or stratagem in order to conceal, escape, or evade; a deceptive device or stratagem
- swindle
the use of deception, trickery, etc., to obtain or take something, esp. money; fraudulent activity of this type.
- treacherousness
the quality of being treacherous (deceiving, perfidious, false; disloyal, traitorous)
- treachery
deceit, cheating, perfidy; violation of faith or betrayal of trust; perfidious conduct
- trickery
the practice of tricks; deceitful conduct or practice; deception, artifice; imposture
- untruth
falsehood, falsity
- wile
a crafty, cunning, or deceitful trick; a sly, insidious, or underhand artifice; a stratagem, ruse
- wiliness
the quality or character of being wily; craftiness, cunning, guile
Above are a few examples, consciously leaving out the (often) more harmless variants, such as act, performance, or playacting, as they don't always make a pretense of their falsity. Illusion is also a different kind of falsity.
lie noun
- a: an assertion of something known or believed by the speaker or writer to be untrue with intent to deceive
b: an untrue or inaccurate statement that may or may not be believed true by the speaker or writer
- something that misleads or deceives
Ambiguity is a mark of the lower realms.
The verb "to lie" is not used by a lucid, neither for the uttering of an untruth, nor for laying down. It is an ambiguous word. To uphold is to leave room for misunderstandings, misinterpretation and, therefore, chaos.
Lore 
