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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
half-truth
noun
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Forbes' book on Bonham is littered with half-truths, and, in some cases, outright lies.
▪ McCarthy's blend of half-truths and lies ruined many careers in government and the professions.
▪ The article is full of lies and half-truths.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ As more than half the population do not pay income tax this is at best only a half-truth.
▪ As was the case a century ago, each side of this argument is articulating an important half-truth.
▪ He loved to use gossip, half-truths, and lies to separate friends and to destroy relationships.
▪ If we go back now, we will go back with only half-truths.
▪ They are fiercely secretive and of their own choice inhabit a dim world of ambiguity and half-truths.
▪ Those who do not will remain awash in half-truths, outright deceptions and fraud.
▪ Unsubstantiated half-truths and distortions of fact cause unnecessary argument and are an inefficient use of people's time.
▪ You risk hugely compounding the problem by getting caught in half-truths.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
half-truth

half-truth \half"-truth`\ (h[aum]f"tr[=oo]th), n.; pl. half-truths (h[aum]f"tr[=oo][th]z)`. a partially true statement, especially one intended to deceive or mislead.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
half-truth

1650s, from half + truth.

Wiktionary
half-truth

n. A deceptive statement, especially one that is only partly true, is incomplete, (misrepresents reality by telling part of the truth), or alters the time sequence of truths.

WordNet
half-truth

n. a partially true statement intended to deceive or mislead

Wikipedia
Half-truth

A half-truth is a deceptive statement that includes some element of truth. The statement might be partly true, the statement may be totally true but only part of the whole truth, or it may use some deceptive element, such as improper punctuation, or double meaning, especially if the intent is to deceive, evade, blame or misrepresent the truth.

Usage examples of "half-truth".

Our explanation would be a half-truth, that the symbiont was a primitive life-form, one with a complex arrangement of RDNAL strands that some Trills had inherited.

He tried to tangle his thoughts, to turn me away with confusions and distractions and half-truths leading nowhere.

CHAPTER XX Not far from the dark-haloed indeterminate limbo where dwelt that bugbear of Charles Courtier, the great Half-Truth Authority, he himself had a couple of rooms at fifteen shillings a week.

Even though Craig realized this silence was deliberate, he wanted to break it, to shout out his innocence, to protest against the web of lies and half-truths and distortions in which they were being slowly enmeshed.

Though Q often dealt in half-truths and exaggerations, baldfaced lies just weren't his style.

She considered evading his question with half-truths or simple silence.

Over a course of weeks he'd created a carefully organized structure of lies, half-truths and disturbing insinuations designed to fill the Everliving with the fear of Man, or at any rate with the fear of Tuvelas.

Silence and half-truths are worse than complete lies: they are deceptive.

Amid all the lies and half-truths, the bowl stood forth as the spirit of man made tangible.

In the midst of all the lies and half-truths, plots and counterplots, she needed someone she could trust.

Jake supposed there was some kind of poetic justice in using a mixture of truths and half-truths, omissions and distractions on Honor Donovan.

On the other hand, it was getting tiresome to always teeter along the sharp edges of half-truths and lies, wondering when he was going to be pushed off and cut himself to the bone.

He didn’t have the Patience for all the sneaking around and pretending and half-truths and evasions and outright lies.

The Sword of Shannara relies on the bearer's willingness to shed personal deceptions, half-truths, and lies in order to see clearly the same in others.

Having to sit through Court will give me indigestion, having to listen to all those half-truths and alibis .