untruthful

adjective

ˌən-ˈtrüth-fəl How to pronounce untruthful (audio)
Definition of untruthfulnext
Enter your own sentence containing untruthful , and get words to replace it.
loading
1
as in erroneous
not being in agreement with what is true an unintentionally untruthful statement that the candidate later corrected

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in misleading
telling or containing lies the political action committee was slammed for spreading untruthful smears about the candidate and his wife

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective untruthful differ from other similar words?

Some common synonyms of untruthful are deceitful, dishonest, and mendacious. While all these words mean "unworthy of trust or belief," untruthful stresses a discrepancy between what is said and fact or reality.

an untruthful account of their actions

When is deceitful a more appropriate choice than untruthful?

The words deceitful and untruthful are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, deceitful usually implies an intent to mislead and commonly suggests a false appearance or double-dealing.

the secret affairs of a deceitful spouse

When would dishonest be a good substitute for untruthful?

While the synonyms dishonest and untruthful are close in meaning, dishonest implies a willful perversion of truth in order to deceive, cheat, or defraud.

a swindle usually involves two dishonest people

When might mendacious be a better fit than untruthful?

While in some cases nearly identical to untruthful, mendacious may suggest bland or even harmlessly mischievous deceit and when used of people often suggests a habit of telling untruths.

mendacious tales of adventure

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of untruthful Phelan, largely brushing off Covey's attacks as politically motivated and untruthful, has stuck to his reputation of having represented the district through several election cycles, running unopposed over the past several, and his work to advance border security legislation and funding last year. — Hogan Gore, Austin American-Statesman, 20 May 2024 Our choice is the person who says the most outrageous, offensive and untruthful things, or the person who is subjected to those insults and lies. — Letters To The Editor, The Mercury News, 29 Oct. 2024 This comes after Adrian Houser was moved to the bullpen after a poor start to the season, after Edwin Diaz was briefly taken out of the closer role and after and Jorge Lopez was designated for assignment for being untruthful and unremorseful in controversial postgame remarks last week. — Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News, 4 June 2024 So Trump's team really leaned into that to argue that Cohen had lied, had been untruthful on the stand. — Taylor Wilson, USA TODAY, 21 May 2024 See All Example Sentences for untruthful
Recent Examples of Synonyms for untruthful
  1. erroneous
  2. inaccurate
  3. dishonest
  4. incorrect
  5. mendacious
  6. wrong
  7. false
Adjective
  • The Washington Post previously reported that DOGE wants to check federal benefits spending against tax records, which could help Musk's team identify duplicative or erroneous payments.
    — arkansasonline.com, arkansasonline.com, 14 Mar. 2025
  • There were also erroneous reports regarding the Seven Dwarfs.
    — James Hibberd, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Mar. 2025
Definition of erroneous
Adjective
  • Implementing controls to reign in its AI agents’ behavior that can initiate incorrect orders, offer bad advice or generate inaccurate research.
    — Gene Marks, Forbes, 19 Mar. 2025
  • But to say that each team’s problems are entirely talent-and-bad-luck issues would be inaccurate in our view.
    — Barry Jackson, Miami Herald, 19 Mar. 2025
Definition of inaccurate
Adjective
  • Perhaps Simpson’s most dishonest claim was that Social Security’s drafters deliberately set the retirement age at 65 because life expectancy in 1935, at the time of enactment, was 63.
    — Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 19 Mar. 2025
  • Higher-ups and colleagues see through the charade as dishonest.
    — Bryan Robinson, Forbes, 2 Mar. 2025
Definition of dishonest
Adjective
  • In housing, there are numerous examples of how incorrect data has led to adverse decisions affecting people’s lives.
    — State Sen. James Maroney, Hartford Courant, 9 Mar. 2025
  • But parents and activists say the numbers are incorrect since the campus consists of newer buildings, constructed decades after the school opened, and older buildings from 1957 that are used for storage, not instruction.
    — Amanda Rosa, Miami Herald, 6 Mar. 2025
Definition of incorrect
Adjective
  • Her unsettling command of the character — who was equal parts sweet, vulnerable, mendacious, and menacing — was one of the highlights of the series.
    — Jake Kanter, Deadline, 24 Dec. 2024
  • Two stand out: his profile and endorsement, in 2000, of Ralph Nader’s independent presidential campaign, and his early opposition to George W. Bush’s disastrous and mendacious invasion of Iraq.
    — Yiyun Li, Harper's Magazine, 23 Sep. 2024
Definition of mendacious
Adjective
  • The question of the night is the choice between selling out their souls to the vapid American tourists at the Tropicana nightclub (bad) or singing for their own people on the wrong side of the tracks (good).
    — Chris Jones, New York Daily News, 20 Mar. 2025
  • But, more importantly, who cares if the details are wrong?
    — R. Eric Thomas, Chicago Tribune, 19 Mar. 2025
Definition of wrong
Adjective
  • Fowler played more of a false nine and dropped deeper to stitch the play together, combining well with Jill Roord.
    — Charlotte Harpur, The Athletic, 20 Mar. 2025
  • The pivotal addition to the the state Civil Code reads: Existing law provides that libel is a false and unprivileged written publication that injures the reputation and that slander is a false and unprivileged publication, orally uttered, that injures the reputation, as specified.
    — Dominic Patten, Deadline, 20 Mar. 2025
Definition of false

Browse Nearby Words

untruthful
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Untruthful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/untruthful. Accessed 24 Mar. 2025.

Copy Citation

Share

More from Merriam-Webster on untruthful

Nglish: Translation of untruthful for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)

The Difference Between 'i.e.' and 'e.g.'

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

More Commonly Misspelled Words

Words You Always Have to Look Up
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Top 10 Sophisticated Insults

Flower Etymologies For Your Spring Garden

More Words with Remarkable Origins

Terroir, Oenophile, & Magnum: Ten Words About Wine

8 Words for Lesser-Known Musical Instruments
See More

Popular Features

See More

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)

Top 10 Sophisticated Insults

Flower Etymologies For Your Spring Garden
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Word Game Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
dog-in-disguise
Rhyme Disguise Quiz Pair up words that look different but sound alike.
See All