Word of the Day
Word
Mendacious (adj.)
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Difficulty
J — Levels range from A to J. What is my level?
Definition
Lying, deceiving, dishonest, misleading, false, untruthful, deceitful, addicted to falsehood.
Details
In the test phrase: "The MENDACIOUS person," the word is thought by 48% of college seniors to mean BEGGARLY, poor, wretched. This is probably a confusion of MENDACIOUS, lying, with MENDICANT, a word which may be used either as a noun to mean a beggar, or as an adjective to mean begging, practicing mendicancy, asking for alms. The two nouns MENDICITY, beggary or the habit of begging, and MENDACITY, the disposition to lie, habitual deceiving, differ in only a single letter. MENDICANT, beggar, is from the Latin adjective MENDICUS, poor, beggarly, needy. MENDACIOUS is from another Latin adjective MENDAX, MENDACIS, lying, false; plus the ending -ACIOUS, which implies intense activity. MENDACIOUS means actively lying, addicted to deception. MENDACIOUS, deceiving, and VERACIOUS, truthful, are opposites. Listen
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