IdiomDaily Life
English
Englishwhite lie
Meaning: A minor, polite, or harmless lie.
Example: “I told a white lie and said I loved the sweater.”
Origin: White has long stood for innocence and black for wickedness. "White lie," a harmless lie told out of kindness, is recorded from the 18th century.
More English idioms
- Look for a needle in a haystack To search for something you have almost no chance of finding, because the thing is tiny a…
- Know where the shoe pinches To know exactly where the real trouble lies.
- Take the wrong sow by the ear To go after the wrong target, or blame the wrong person.
- have the blues To feel sad or depressed.
- stand someone up To fail to show up for a date or appointment, leaving the other person waiting.
- have bigger fish to fry To have more important things to deal with.
Explore another collection: Proverbs
Short sayings of timeless wisdom from more than 50 cultures, each with its meaning and origin.
- 己の欲せざる所、人に施す勿れ (Onore no hossezaru tokoro, hito ni hodokosu nakare) Don't do to others what you wouldn't want done to you.
- 千丈の堤も蟻の一穴から (Senjō no tsutsumi mo ari no ikketsu kara) A small neglected flaw can bring down something great.
- 江山易改，本性难移 (Jiāngshān yì gǎi, běnxìng nán yí) A person's nature is harder to change than the landscape.
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