Word.ws English Dictionary

what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive

what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive phrase: when one tells a simple lie, it may become necessary to tell more complex lies, eventually spiraling out of control and leading to the exposure of the deceit.

Phrase

what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive

  1. When one tells a simple lie, it may become necessary to tell more complex lies, eventually spiraling out of control and leading to the exposure of the deceit.

Synonyms of what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive

Forms of what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive

alternative formwhat tangled webs we weave when first we practice to deceive

Origin of what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive

Attributed to canto 6, stanza 17 in the poem Marmion (1808) by Sir Walter Scott: "O what a tangled web we weave/ When first we practice to deceive"

Questions about what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive

What does what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive mean?
What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive means when one tells a simple lie, it may become necessary to tell more complex lies, eventually spiraling out of control and leading to the exposure of the deceit.
What part of speech is what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive?
What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive is a phrase.

Words near what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive in the dictionary

  1. what
  2. what a lovely day
  3. what a pity
  4. what a shame
  5. what a small world
  6. what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive
  7. what a way to go
  8. what about
  9. what about the children
  10. what am I bid
  11. what am I looking at

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive (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.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/what_a_tangled_web_we_weave_when_first_we_practice_to_deceive. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.