white lie

English

Alternative forms

• little white lie

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Noun

white lie (plural white lies)

1. (idiomatic) A deliberate, untrue statement which is intended to produce a favorable result.
   • 2008 July 15, Jacqueline Stenson, "The Whole Truth: When is it okay to lie to your kids?," Newsweek (retrieved 14 Sept 2017):

     An occasional little white lie such as Weston's probably won't cause any lasting damage. And at times, telling the truth—particularly the whole truth to a child who's not at an age to handle it—may do more harm than good, they say.

Translations

deliberate untrue statement which is intended to produce a favorable result

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: mentida inofensiva f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 善意的謊話／善意的谎话, 善意的谎话 (shànyì de huǎnghuà)

• Danish: hvid løgn c
• Dutch: leugen om bestwil f
• Finnish: valkoinen valhe
• French: mensonge officieux (fr) m, pieux mensonge (fr) m
• German: soziale Lüge f, Notlüge (de) f
• Hungarian: kegyes hazugság
• Italian: bugia bianca f, bugia pietosa f, bugia a fin di bene f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 悪意のない嘘 (あくいのないうそ, akui no nai uso), 罪のない嘘 (つみのないうそ, tsumi no nai uso)
• Latin: pia fraus
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hvit løgn (no) m

• Portuguese: mentira branca f, mentirinha f
• Russian: неви́нная ложь (ru) f (nevínnaja ložʹ)
• Spanish: mentirilla, mentirijilla (es), mentira piadosa
• Swedish: vit lögn c
• Turkish: beyaz yalan