noun
mendacity
Mendacity (noun) means the quality of not telling the truth.
noun
1
The quality of not telling the truth.
"And when presidential counsellor Kellyanne Conway coined the phrase “alternative facts” a few days after Trump’s inauguration in early 2017, the mendacity of the incoming administration appeared to be all but official."
— William Davies, A critique of pure stupidity: understanding Trump 2.0 (2025)
"A shifty or unreliable politician may hide their mendacity behind deceit, fabrication on confabulation, or by rehearsed counter-attack that simply ignores the questions but makes imputations against the other."
— Jack Waterford, Prime Minister's ever-diminishing credibility (2019)
2
Something said that is not true; a lie.
"He would have you believe that every error we make is deliberate, that journalists have somehow ginned up a unified conspiracy of lies and mendacities against him."
— Jack Shafer, Donald Trump’s Fake News Mistake (2018)
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Etymology
Comes from Late Latin mendacitas, from Latin mendāx (“deceitful, deceptive, lying”) plus -itās (a suffix forming nouns of state). Mendāx itself derives from mentior (“to deceive, lie”), from mēns, mentis (“mind; intellect; judgment, reasoning”), from Proto-Indo-European *méntis (“thought”), plus -āx (a suffix forming adjectives of tendency or inclination) — or alternatively from Proto-Indo-European *mend- (“to fault”). By surface analysis, it is Latin mendāc- plus -ity.
Antonyms
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Rhymes for mendacity
See all rhymes for mendacity →Frequently asked questions
What is the meaning of mendacity?
"mendacity" (noun) means the quality of not telling the truth.
What is the opposite of mendacity?
The opposite of "mendacity" is veracity.
What are the different meanings of mendacity?
"mendacity" has 2 main meanings: 1. The quality of not telling the truth; 2. Something said that is not true; a lie.
