fib
/fɪb/ (bre, ipa) · /fɪb/ (ame, ipa) · /ˈfib/ (ame, mw)
fib — verb
- fibpresent simple I / you / we / they
- fibs3rd person singular
- fibbing-ing form
- fibbedpast simple
1. to say something untrue about a minor matter, usually to spare feelings or avoid
to say something untrue about a minor matter, usually to spare feelings or avoid a long explanation rather than to deceive in any serious way.
Jin fibbed about his age so he could enter the teen art contest.
fib about + noun for the topic of the small lie
When Ezra asked if dinner was tasty, Defne fibbed and said it was wonderful.
fibbed and said + reported speech to spare someone's feelings
Children sometimes fib when they are afraid of being scolded by their parents.
Don't fib to me about where you were last night, Ishaan!
Felipe fibbed that the traffic was terrible, but really he had overslept.
- lie
blunt and broader; covers serious dishonesty as well as small ones, while 'fib' stays light.
- make something up
informal; suggests invention more than evasion, often playful.
- tell a white lie
phrase used when the motive is to be polite or kind, similar in spirit to fibbing.
- tell the truth
the plain opposite when honesty is the alternative being highlighted.
文法句型
fib about + noun phrase
fib + that-clause
用法筆記
Only used for trivial, harmless untruths — never for serious deception, perjury, or fraud. Subject is usually a person; the lie itself is small enough that a listener would forgive it once revealed.
常見錯誤
fib — noun
- fibsingular
- fibsplural
1. a minor untruth that someone tells for politeness or convenience, the kind nobod
a minor untruth that someone tells for politeness or convenience, the kind nobody would treat as a serious offence even if discovered.
Indra told a little fib about being sick so she could skip the office party.
tell a fib + about for the topic — most common collocation
Mathieu admitted the whole story was a fib designed to make his classmates laugh.
be + a fib — predicative noun usage
Sivan caught her younger brother in a fib about who had eaten the last cookie.
Élise's grandmother always laughed off the small fibs the children told at bedtime.
Sophia confessed that her excuse about a broken alarm was just a harmless fib.
- truth
the straightforward factual statement that a fib avoids.
文法句型
tell a fib
a fib about + noun
用法筆記
Always countable and always preceded by an adjective of smallness or harmlessness ('little', 'small', 'harmless', 'tiny') or modified by a topic phrase with 'about'. Reserved for socially light lies — never used for legal or moral wrongdoing.