Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To give a false representation to; misrepresent.
- transitive verb To show to be false; contradict.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To lie around; encompass; especially, to lie around, as an army; beleaguer.
- To tell lies concerning; calumniate by false reports.
- To give the lie to; show to be false; contradict.
- To act unworthily of; fail to equal or come up to; disappoint: as, to
belie one's hopes or expectations. - To give a false representation of; conceal the true character of.
- To fill with lies.
- To counterfeit; mimic; feign resemblance to.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To show to be false; to convict of, or charge with, falsehood.
- transitive verb To give a false representation or account of.
- transitive verb To tell lie about; to calumniate; to slander.
- transitive verb obsolete To mimic; to counterfeit.
- transitive verb obsolete To fill with lies.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive, obsolete To
lie around ;encompass . - verb transitive, obsolete To
surround ;beleaguer . - verb transitive, perhaps nonstandard To
show ,evince ,demonstrate : to show (something) to be present.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb represent falsely
- verb be in contradiction with
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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But these terms belie the simplicity of what really happened.
Jonathan Kim: ReThink Review: American Casino -- Gambling on Timebomb Loans 2009
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Yea, and as for us, beloved pair of pious Emperors, shining forth from the purple, connected with the dearest names of father and son, and not allowing the name to belie the relationship, but striving to set in all other aspects also an example of superhuman love, whose preoccupation is Orthodoxy rather than pride in the imperial diadem,—it is in these things that the deed which is before our eyes instigates us to take pride.
The Early Middle Ages 500-1000 Robert Brentano 1964
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Spectacular shots which kind of belie the danger which is involved here.
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But today, "belie" has lost some of that richness, and just means "expose as a falsehood", as in, say, "The evidence belies the stated reasons for going to war."
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The word "belie" seems to like shifting its meaning in baffling ways.
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But a recent string of high-profile attacks that the Taliban have taken credit for belie that rosy assessment.
Medea Benjamin: Stop Sacrificing US Soldiers for Afghan Debacle Medea Benjamin 2011
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I once worried that it was because I had somehow developed into an emotionally detached person, but my love for my own three children and my partner belie this view.
Family life 2012
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But the facts belie such easy answers, they wrote.
Former White House Economists Say Deficit Is 'Severe Threat' David Wessel 2011
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But a recent string of high-profile attacks that the Taliban have taken credit for belie that rosy assessment.
Medea Benjamin: Stop Sacrificing US Soldiers for Afghan Debacle Medea Benjamin 2011
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But a recent string of high-profile attacks that the Taliban have taken credit for belie that rosy assessment.
Medea Benjamin: Stop Sacrificing US Soldiers for Afghan Debacle Medea Benjamin 2011
billyvonraven commented on the word belie
from Webster's New Universal Unabridged: 3. to act unworthily according to the standards of (a tradition, one's ancestry, etc.)
March 27, 2012
mohitanand commented on the word belie
to give a false representation to; misrepresent
The smile on her face belies the pain she must feel after the death of her husband.
October 11, 2016