Word of the Day Archive
Thursday March 16, 2000
mendacious \men-DAY-shuhs\ , adjective:
1. Given to deception or falsehood; lying; untruthful; as, a mendacious person.
2. False; untrue; as, a mendacious statement.
Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, two very different men, each from a different party, were seen as mendacious and deceitful, driven to self-destructive actions by forces they could not control.
-- Robert Shogan, The Double-Edged Sword
His writings, speeches, and decisions supply crucial evidence but also contain mendacious elements, gaps, and camouflage.
-- Richard Breitman, Official Secrets
Mendacious is from Latin mendax, mendac-, "lying."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for mendacious
