Idiom
polite fiction
Meaning
A social scenario in which all participants are aware of a truth, but pretend to believe in some alternative version of events to avoid conflict or embarrassment.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“We maintain a polite fiction that the meeting was a success.”
“Everyone knew the boss was fired, but they kept up a polite fiction that he had simply retired.”
“The diplomatic team relied on a polite fiction to ignore the obvious tensions, allowing the negotiations to continue without an immediate collapse.”
Examples
simple
“We maintain a polite fiction that the meeting was a success.”
contextual
“Everyone knew the boss was fired, but they kept up a polite fiction that he had simply retired.”
complex
“The diplomatic team relied on a polite fiction to ignore the obvious tensions, allowing the negotiations to continue without an immediate collapse.”
Key words
- Updated