barefaced

barefaced liar

One who tells blatantly obvious or impudent untruths easily and with little or no attempt to disguise the lie. Everyone knows he is just a barefaced liar. It's a wonder anyone believes a thing he says anymore. I did not take Jenna's candy bar! She's a barefaced liar! My brother is nothing but a barefaced liar when Mom and Dad ask him where he goes at night.

See also: barefaced, liar

barefaced lie

A blatantly obvious or impudent untruth, one in which the liar does not attempt to disguise their mendacity. My opponent's assertion that I intend to raise the tax rates is baseless; it is nothing but a barefaced lie. That's a barefaced lie—I did not take Jenna's candy bar! If you keep telling barefaced lies like this, eventually, no one will believe a thing you say!

See also: barefaced, lie

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

barefaced lie

A shameless falsehood. For example, Bill could tell a barefaced lie with a straight face. The adjective barefaced means "beardless," and one theory is that in the 1500s this condition was considered brazen in all but the youngest males. By the late 1600s barefaced also meant "brazen" or "bold," the meaning alluded to in this phrase.

See also: barefaced, lie

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

barefaced lie/liar

A shamelessly bold untruth/prevaricator. Bare here means bold-faced or brazen, but one writer speculates that barefaced, which dates from the late sixteenth century, originally meant “beardless,” a condition perhaps considered audacious in all but the youngest men. In any event, by the late seventeenth century it also meant bold and became attached to lie in succeeding years. See also naked truth.

See also: barefaced, liar, lie

The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer