economical with the truth
Not telling the whole truth, especially in order to present a false image of a situation; untruthful; lying. Often used with sarcasm or satire.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“He was economical with the truth about why he arrived late.”
“You are being economical with the truth about who ate the last cookie.”
“The manager was being economical with the truth when he claimed the project was on schedule despite the missing data.”
“My brother was being economical with the truth when he told our parents that the car's engine just stopped working on its own.”
“The politician was notoriously economical with the truth, carefully omitting key details to ensure the public remained unaware of the impending budget cuts.”
disputed origin
Believed to be from a quotation by the British-Irish statesman and philosopher Edmund Burke (1729–1797): “Falsehood and delusion are allowed in no case whatever: But, as in the exercise of all the virtues, there is an œconomy of truth. It is a sort of temperance, by which a man speaks truth with measure that he may speak it the longer.”
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bend the truth
To change or leave out certain facts of a story or situation, generally in order to elicit a specific response in the audience.
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God's honest truth
Unquestionable, absolute truth.
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grain of truth
Synonym of kernel of truth.
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kernel of truth
A core accuracy at the heart of a claim or narrative which also contains dubious or fictitious elements.
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moment of truth
A deciding instant; the time when a test determines or makes it apparent whether something will succeed.
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nugget of truth
A small amount of truth in a generally untrue statement.
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race of truth
A time trial.
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sneeze on the truth
To sneeze just after somebody says something, superstitiously believed to verify or validate their statement.
Last updated August 10, 2026