Word.ws English Dictionary

lie behind

lie behind verb: used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see lie, behind.

Verb

lie behind (third-person singular simple present lies behind, present participle lying behind, simple past lay behind, past participle lain behind)

  1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see lie, behind.
  2. To be the ultimate cause of.
    • What truly lies behind her sudden change of heart?

Forms of lie behind

third-person singular presentlies behind
present participlelying behind
pastlay behind
past participlelain behind

Questions about lie behind

What does lie behind mean?
Lie behind means used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see lie, behind.
What part of speech is lie behind?
Lie behind is a verb.
What is the past tense of lie behind?
The past tense of lie behind is lay behind.

Words near lie behind in the dictionary

  1. lie at someone's door
  2. lie at someone's heart
  3. lie back
  4. lie back and think of England
  5. lie before
  6. lie behind
  7. Lie bracket
  8. lie bump
  9. lie bumps
  10. lie by
  11. lie detection

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: lie behind (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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