liar

liar — noun

1. a person who states things they know are false, often to avoid blame or gain an

1.nounB2
Definition

a person who states things they know are false, often to avoid blame or gain an advantage

Example

Diego called his business partner a liar when the accounts showed a major gap.

collocation: call someone a liar

The children in the story learned that the boy who cried wolf was a liar.

Common collocations
  • call someone a liar
  • proven liar
  • habitual liar
  • caught in a lie
  • brand someone a liar
Synonyms
  • deceiver

    more formal and broader; can include non-verbal deception, not just spoken lies

  • fibber

    informal; used for harmless or trivial untruths rather than serious deception

  • fabricator

    suggests inventing a story from nothing, often in a formal or professional context

Antonyms
  • truth-teller

    informal; emphasises a consistent habit of honesty

Usage Note

Frequently used with the verb 'call' (call someone a liar) or as a direct form of address ('You liar!'). Unlike dishonest or untruthful, liar is always a noun and labels the person rather than the behaviour.

Common Mistakes

He is liar.
He is a liar.
Liar is a countable noun and needs a determiner (a, the, that) before it.
She told a liar story.
She told a lie.' or ✅ 'She is a liar.
Liar is a noun for a person; the noun 'lie' is used for the false statement.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Liar is the most common and direct word for someone who says things they know are false. It carries strong disapproval and is used in everyday situations as well as serious accusations. Deceiver is broader and more formal; it can describe someone who misleads through actions or silence, not only through spoken lies. Fibber is informal and light-hearted, typically used for small, harmless untruths ('He said he walked ten miles — what a fibber!'). Fabricator has a more literary feel and suggests inventing an entire story from imagination, often in journalism or legal contexts. Choose liar for direct accusations, fibber for playful scolding, and deceiver or fabricator when the deception is wider than a single spoken lie.

liar ↗deceiverfibberfabricator

Common collocations

Nouns

  • habitual liar
  • compulsive liar
  • pathological liar
  • proven liar

Adverbs

Phrases

  • call someone a liar
  • brand someone a liar
  • expose someone as a liar
  • catch someone in a lie

Etymology

Old EnglishEnglish

Liar comes from Old English lēogere, meaning 'one who tells lies', formed from lēogan (to lie, to tell a falsehood) plus the agent suffix -ere (someone who does something). The word has been in use for over a thousand years with the same basic meaning, making it one of the oldest English nouns for a dishonest person.