“Liars need to have good memories.”
a French proverb
Before we get to the idioms related to truth and lies, let’s look at how the nouns are usually used:
TRUTH COLLOCATIONS
- to tell the truth: Tell me the truth. Did you break the vase? (say vs. tell)
- to learn the truth: I’ve got to learn the truth about my family.
- to find out the truth: When did you find out the truth? – Recently.
- to accept the truth: It may be hard to accept the sad truth.
- to hide the truth: Don’t try to hide the truth. The truth will out (used for saying that people will find out the truth about something, even if you try to keep it a secret).
Common adjective + truth collocations are: absolute, whole, full, simple, awful, horrible (truth)
LIE COLLOCATIONS
- to tell a lie: Don’t tell me lies!
- to swallow a lie: How could she swallow (believe) such a blatant /ˈbleɪt(ə)nt/ (obvious) lie?
- to live a lie: He lived a lie for 20 years, pretending to be the faithful husband of two different women living in two different towns.
Common adjective + lie collocations are: big, little, complete, white (a lie told to avoid making someone upset), elaborate /ɪˈlæb(ə)rət/ (detailed and complicated) (lie)
TRUTH IDIOMS
| Idiom | Meaning | Example |
| If truth be told/known
in truth (formal) |
to be honest
frankly speaking |
If truth be told, I’ve never really loved him.
In truth, the lecture could be better. |
| nothing could be further from the truth | it’s a complete lie | He is a bad person. – Nothing could be further from the truth! He is the best person I’ve ever known. |
| economical with the truth
(humorous) |
avoiding telling the truth, lying | I admit I’ve been economical with the truth. |
| to have a/the ring of truth | to seem to be true | Do you believe his story? – It has the ring of truth. |
| to spill (spilt; spilt) the beans | to tell someone something, often something that should be kept secret | Come on, spill the beans. Are you organizing a surprise party? |
| spill (spilt; spilt) the guts (American slang) | tell me everything you know (about sth.) | You’re in big trouble, so spill the guts! |
| honesty is the best policy | it’s always better to be honest | Honesty is the best policy. Just tell them what you really think. |
| in all honesty (colloquial) | to tell you the truth (especially when the truth is not something pleasant to hear) | I can’t, in all honesty, say that I like your singing. |
| in (all) fairness | used for making your criticism of someone or something seem less strong | I should say in all fairness to him that he’s not the most prominent scientist. |
| to come (came; come) clean | to tell the truth about something that you have kept secret | You need to come clean about/over/on your plans. Come clean with me! |
LIES IDIOMS
| Idiom | Meaning | Example |
| to throw (threw; thrown) dust in one’s eyes | to mislead (misled; misled), deceive sb. | Don’t even try to throw dust in my eyes! I see right through you (I understand the truth about you). |
| to pull the wool over sb’s eyes | to deceive, trick sb. | It’s so typical of him to try to pull the wool over people’s eyes. Don’t trust him! |
| funny business | dishonest actions or behavior intended to trick sb. | If you see any funny business, report to the authorities. |
| monkey business | behavior that is not acceptable or is dishonest | The teacher suspected that there had been some monkey business going on while he was out of the room. |
| to lie through one’s teeth | to tell sb. a complete lie | He’s lying through his teeth! Don’t you see? |
| to take (took; taken) sb. for a ride | to cheat or swindle sb. (to get money dishonestly from sb. by deceiving or cheating them) | They won’t take me for a ride! I know what they are up to (I know what bad (often illegal) things they are doing). |
| smoke and mirrors | behavior or information designed to hide the truth about a situation or create a false impression | The new budget is nothing but smoke and mirrors (it’s just smoke and mirrors). |
| to stretch the truth | to say sth. that is not completely honest in order to make sb. or sth. seem better than it really is | Don’t stretch the truth about how you got the A on the test. |
| to bend (bent; bent) the truth/the facts | to say sth. that is not completely true in order to achieve an aim | We all sometimes bend the truth, don’t we? |
| to play games | to try to deceive sb. | She’s just playing games. Her words mean nothing. |
Enguroo Online English School 
Thank you so much for this. Helped me a lot
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