Slang dictionary
bold-faced lie
[ bohld-feyst lahy ]
What does bold-faced lie mean?
The term bold-faced lie refers to an obvious, shameless lie, one that the liar makes little or no effort to disguise as the truth.
Bold-faced lie means the same thing as two other similar phrases, bald-faced lie and barefaced lie.
All three of these terms typically imply that the lie is told shamelessly, without a real attempt to conceal the deception. In other words, the teller is so brash that they don’t care whether the lie is recognized as a lie. In some cases, they might even want it to be recognized as one in order to provoke the person or people they’re telling it to.
For this reason, bold-faced lie and its synonymous terms are always used critically.
Example: It’s fascinating that his statements, which are so obviously bold-faced lies, are so convincing to some people.
Where does bold-faced lie come from?
The adjective bold-faced means “brazen.” While bold-faced has been used to describe brazen people since the late 1500s, the phrase bold-faced lie came about much later, gaining widespread use during the 1900s.
Though some consider bold-faced lie to be the result of a mishearing of bald-faced lie, both phrases are in common use. The term bald-faced has been used since at least the mid-1600s.
Examples of bold-faced lie
Who uses bold-faced lie?
Bold-faced lie is always used critically. Calling something a bold-faced lie is meant to indicate that it’s especially brazen—and therefore extremely frustrating or insulting to the person or people it’s being told to.
'Vegan jerky,' the package said in a bold-faced lie.
— Tim Fontaine (@anishinaboy) September 4, 2019
“The Red Sox are looking everywhere for pitching answers” is a bold faced lie and you know it Matty V.
— Jomboy (@Jomboy_) August 16, 2020
Whenever I see someone get haughty about grammar, I know they were sold the same bold-faced lie that I was fed as a weird little child: being smart is superior to being popular.
— allana (@reochnroll) September 30, 2021
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of bold-faced lie like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of bold-faced lie that will help our users expand their word mastery.