mendacity

== English == === Etymology === From Late Latin mendacitas, from Latin mendāx (“deceitful, deceptive, lying”) +‎ -itās (suffix forming nouns indicating a state of being). Mendāx is derived from mentior (“to deceive, lie”) (from mēns, mentis (“mind; intellect; judgment, reasoning”), from Proto-Indo-European *méntis (“thought”)) + -āx (suffix forming adjectives expressing a tendency or inclination), or from Proto-Indo-European *mend- (“to fault”). By surface analysis, Latin mendāc- +‎ -ity. === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /mɛnˈdæsəti/ (General American) IPA(key): /mɛnˈdæsəti/, [-ɾi] Hyphenation: men‧da‧ci‧ty === Noun === mendacity (countable and uncountable, plural mendacities) (uncountable) The fact or condition of being untruthful; dishonesty. 1955 March 24 (first performance), Tennessee Williams [pseudonym; Thomas Lanier Williams III], Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, published in Jack Gaver, editor, Critics’ Choice: New York Drama Critics’ Circle Prize Plays 1935–55, New York, N.Y.: Hawthorn Books, 1955, →OCLC, Act II, page 652, column 2: Big Daddy: […] Think of all the lies I got to put up with!—Pretenses! Ain't that mendacity? Having to pretend stuff you don't think or feel or have any idea of? (countable) A deceit, falsehood, or lie. ==== Related terms ==== mendacious mendaciously mendaciousness ==== Translations ==== === References === === Further reading === deception on Wikipedia.Wikipedia