Word.ws English Dictionary

given the lie

given the lie is the past participle of give the lie.

Meaning of give the lie

Verb

give the lie (third-person singular simple present gives the lie, present participle giving the lie, simple past gave the lie, past participle given the lie)

  1. (idiomatic, intransitive, transitive) To respond to an insult, accusation, or falsehood by saying the offender is lying, particularly in the context of provoking a challenge to a duel.
    • Say to the Court, it glowes,
      and shines like rotten wood;
      Say to the Church, it shewes
      whats good, and doth no good:
      If Church and Court reply,
      then giue them both the lye.c. 1592, Walter Raleigh, “The Lie”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), published 1608
  2. Used in give the lie to.

Questions about given the lie

What is given the lie the past participle of?
Given the lie is the past participle of give the lie.

Words near given the lie in the dictionary

  1. given the dirts
  2. given the elbow
  3. given the finger
  4. given the floor
  5. given the game away
  6. given the lie
  7. given the lie to
  8. given the royal treatment
  9. given the sack
  10. given the stem
  11. given the time of day

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: given the lie (page history and authors); give the lie (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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