little white lie

English

Noun

little white lie (plural little white lies)

1. Alternative form of white lie
   • 1876 June, Mark Twain, “The Facts Concerning The Recent Carnival Of Crime In Connecticut”, in The Atlantic‎^[1]:

     What did you do then? Why, you made me say to myself, 'Ah, it would have been so much kinder and more blameless to ease him off with a little white lie, and send him away feeling that if he could not have bread, the gentle treatment was at least something to be grateful for!'

   • 2000, “Motion Picture Soundtrack”, in Kid A, performed by Radiohead:

     Stop sending letters / Letters always get burned / It's not like the movies / They fed us on little white lies