phrasal verb · academic
give the lie to
UK/ɡɪv ðə laɪ tə/US/ɡɪv ðə laɪ tuː/give·the·LIE·to
to show that a claim or idea is false
Examples
“The new survey data give the lie to the minister's optimistic claims.”
“Recent studies give the lie to the belief that young people are less interested in politics.”
“You don't need to argue if the evidence gives the lie to the allegation.”
Band 8 sentence
“The latest unemployment figures give the lie to claims that the economy is rapidly improving.”
Collocations
- give the lie to + a claim / an assertion / a myth
- statistics give the lie to ...
Word family
Common mistakes
give lie to the statistics→give the lie to the statistics
deny the claim by statistics→the statistics give the lie to the claim
Say it for a higher band
5deny→6contradict→7+give the lie to
Synonyms
contradict
refute
Easily confused
contradict
“His testimony contradicted the earlier report.”
Related words
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