belie

American

[bih-lahy] / bɪˈlaɪ /

verb (used with object)

belied, belying

to show to be false; contradict.

His trembling hands belied his calm voice.

Synonyms:

gainsay, confute, repudiate, disprove, refute

Antonyms:

support, verify, substantiate, confirm, prove
to misrepresent.

The newspaper belied the facts.
to act unworthily according to the standards of (a tradition, one's ancestry, one's faith, etc.).
Archaic. to lie about; slander.

belie British

/ bɪˈlaɪ /

verb

to show to be untrue; contradict
to misrepresent; disguise the nature of

the report belied the real extent of the damage
to fail to justify; disappoint

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Related Words

See misrepresent.

Other Word Forms

belier noun

Etymology

Origin of belie

First recorded before 1000; Middle English belyen, Old English belēogan; be-, lie ¹

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023