Lie

From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.

A lie is something that someone says that is not true. People that are lying often want others to believe that the lie is truth. People can have many reasons for lying, such as if they are hiding something, if they want something from you, or white lies. Some people are pathological liars.

Different kinds of lies:

Deception

Tricking someone into believing something with a lot of lies over a longer period. "The cult members were deceived by their leader."

Distortion

Getting rid of or adding details to a fact. If a scientist says that "The medicine is safe in small amounts", a drug company can distort it and say "The scientist says the medicine is safe".

White lies

Telling a small lie make people feel better or for other reasons which do not harm anybody or anything. Saying that a person likes what another person is wearing, even though they don't, is a white lie. White lies should not be confused with sarcasm.

Exaggeration

Saying that something is more or less than it really is. "I didn't eat breakfast before class, I almost starved to death." (you were very hungry, but not actually close to dying). Also used in tall tales; "Our hero was three meters tall and strong as an elephant!" (making a story more fantastic).

Sometimes a person will say something that is not true, but they do not know it is not true. This person either learned the wrong information somewhere, or is delusional.