Mendacious

Pronunciation: /mɛnˈdeɪʃəs/

adjective

Difficulty: Advanced

Definition of Mendacious

Not telling the truth; given to lying or dishonesty.

Origin of Mendacious

Language of origin: Latin

Root word: mendax

Original meaning: lying, deceitful

From Latin "mendax" meaning "lying, deceitful"

How to Remember Mendacious

Think "mend-acious" — someone who tries to "mend" or patch up their lies constantly.

Synonyms for Mendacious

Antonyms of Mendacious

  • honest
  • truthful
  • sincere
  • candid
  • veracious

Mendacious in a Sentence

  1. The mendacious politician was caught fabricating stories about his background.
  2. Her mendacious claims about the product led to a consumer lawsuit.
  3. The witness gave a mendacious account of the events that night.

Usage Notes

Used in formal contexts to describe habitual dishonesty. More emphatic than simply "dishonest."

Why Mendacious Matters for GRE & SAT

Frequently appears in GRE Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence. Often paired with words like veracious (its antonym) or duplicitous.

Word Family

mendacity (noun)
the quality of being mendacious; untruthfulness
mendaciously (adverb)
in a mendacious manner

More Vocabulary Words Starting with M

  • macabre — having a quality of horror or grimness
  • macabre — having a quality of horror or grimness
  • magisterial — possessing great authority
  • magisterial — possessing great authority
  • magnanimous — noble and generous in spirit
  • magnanimous — noble and generous in spirit
  • magnify — To make something appear larger than it is; to intensify
  • magnify — To make something appear larger than it is; to intensify
  • maintain — To cause or enable something to continue
  • maintain — To continue to have or keep something in existence