WHITE LIE • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of White lie

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/waɪt laɪ/ Listen

White lie

noun

An unimportant lie (especially one told to be tactful or polite).

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Etymology of 'White lie'

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"White lie" Quotes from Famous Books

... the giant; and, after cordial salutations, Tom propounded his question carelessly, with something like a white lie. ...

— Two Years Ago, Volume I • Charles Kingsley

... not want the police in the affair. In that event there would be a lot of publicity, followed by the kind of talk that stuck. He was confident that he could handle the affair alone. So he invented a white lie, and nobody questioned it because of his uniform. Miss Norman had found friends, and shortly she would send for her effects; but until that time she desired the consulate to take charge. Under the eyes of the relieved ...

— The Pagan Madonna • Harold MacGrath

... Hollabrnn. I bring the flags captured at Breganz to the Emperor. The danger of a white lie. ...

— The Memoirs of General the Baron de Marbot, Translated by - Oliver C. Colt • Baron de Marbot

... that a 'white lie,'" he said; "but it is a peart lad, and the air with which he told it is worth a cool hundred! Going at four ...

— Tales of the Chesapeake • George Alfred Townsend

... when I ring the bell; then all I have for it is to run my chance. Perhaps he may never recollect what passed about your debts, for the dear good old soul has not the best memory in the world; and if he should obstinately remember, why, after all, it's only a bit of false delicacy, and a white lie for a friend and a son, ...

— Tales and Novels, Vol. V - Tales of a Fashionable Life • Maria Edgeworth