Library / English Dictionary

LIAR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A person who has lied or who lies repeatedly

Synonyms:

liar; prevaricator

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("liar" is a kind of...):

beguiler; cheat; cheater; deceiver; slicker; trickster (someone who leads you to believe something that is not true)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "liar"):

false witness; perjurer (a person who deliberately gives false testimony)

fabricator; fibber; storyteller (someone who tells lies)

Instance hyponyms:

Ananias (a habitual liar (after a New Testament character who was struck dead for lying))

Antonym:

square shooter (a frank and honest person)

Derivation:

lie (tell an untruth; pretend with intent to deceive)

Credits

 Context examples: 

You make me a liar by such language: you sully my honour.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Refreshment—a—underneath this roof—particularly punch—would—a—choke me—unless—I had—previously—choked the eyes—out of the head—a—of—interminable cheat, and liar—HEEP!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Did I hear someone say that I was a liar?

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I was the first who spoke—Helen, why do you stay with a girl whom everybody believes to be a liar?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

LORD JOHN ROXTON: 'Is this fellow calling me a liar?' (Uproar.)

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Deceit is, indeed, a sad fault in a child, said Mr. Brocklehurst; it is akin to falsehood, and all liars will have their portion in the lake burning with fire and brimstone; she shall, however, be watched, Mrs. Reed.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Am I a liar? (General hearty and noisy assent.)

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I gathered my energies and launched them in this blunt sentence—I am not deceitful: if I were, I should say I loved you; but I declare I do not love you: I dislike you the worst of anybody in the world except John Reed; and this book about the liar, you may give to your girl, Georgiana, for it is she who tells lies, and not I.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Will the person who called me a liar kindly stand up that I may know him?

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Teachers, you must watch her: keep your eyes on her movements, weigh well her words, scrutinise her actions, punish her body to save her soul: if, indeed, such salvation be possible, for (my tongue falters while I tell it) this girl, this child, the native of a Christian land, worse than many a little heathen who says its prayers to Brahma and kneels before Juggernaut—this girl is—a liar!

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)