Mendacity

[nq:1]I don't know why, but I believe /mendacity/ carries with it a certain weight; I would only use it when the degree of dishonesty is outrageous.I don't see a usage note in any of my dictionaries indicating that I'm correct. Am I wrong?[/nq]
I think so. Mendacity = lying. Which is bad enough.
[nq:1]I'd use /disingenuous/ for less-severe purposeful lying. Thoughts?[/nq]
Disingenuity

[nq:1]I don't know why, but I believe /mendacity/ carries with it a certain weight; I would only use it when ... in any of my dictionaries indicating that I'm correct. Am I wrong? I'd use /disingenuous/ for less-severe purposeful lying. Thoughts?[/nq]
'Mendacity' has the virtue of being a lot less common (and a lot more formal) a word than 'lie', and could therefore be said to pack a fairly st

[nq:2]I don't know why, but I believe /mendacity/ carries with ... I wrong? I'd use /disingenuous/ for less-severe purposeful lying. Thoughts?[/nq]
[nq:1]'Mendacity' has the virtue of being a lot less common (and a lot more formal) a word than 'lie', and could therefore be said to pack a fairly strong punch. Its rhyming antonym ('veracity') has a similar effect for the same reason.[/nq]
An

[nq:1]I don't know why, but I believe /mendacity/ carries with it a certain weight; I would only use it when ... in any of my dictionaries indicating that I'm correct. Am I wrong? I'd use /disingenuous/ for less-severe purposeful lying. Thoughts?[/nq]
I agree with you and those others who commented that "mendacity" is particularly strong, implying not just falsehood but particularly egregious

[nq:1]As for "disingenuous," it's a lawyer's favorite a big, slightly obscure word meaning "lying."[/nq]
To me its meaning is a lot more specific than that something like "pretending ignorance".

Mark Brader, Toronto "The walls have hearsay." (Email Removed) Fonseca & Carolino

[nq:2]As for "disingenuous," it's a lawyer's favorite a big, slightly obscure word meaning "lying."[/nq]
[nq:1]To me its meaning is a lot more specific than that something like "pretending ignorance".[/nq]
I think the poster who suggested "not telling the whole truth" was closer to the mark. This might include pretending ignorance.

Zen

[nq:2]I don't know why, but I believe /mendacity/ carries with ... I wrong? I'd use /disingenuous/ for less-severe purposeful lying. Thoughts?[/nq]
[nq:1]I agree with you and those others who commented that "mendacity" is particularly strong, implying not just falsehood but particularly ... mendacity. Deliberately misrepresenting the condition of a used car so as to sell it for a higher price

[nq:1]I[/nq]
[nq:2]I agree with you and those others who commented that ... as to sell it for a higher price *is* mendacity.[/nq]
[nq:1]I disagree with you and agree with my dictionary: both your examples are of mendacity.[/nq]
The only time I think I've actually heard the word ('mendacities') was in 'Back to the Future' (part III) when Clara gets angry at Doc:

Clara: Please,

Adrian Bailey wrote on 29 Jul 2004:
[nq:2]I agree with you and those others who commented that ... as to sell it for a higher price *is* mendacity.[/nq]
[nq:1]I disagree with you and agree with my dictionary: both your examples are of mendacity.[/nq]
The most famous usage of "mendacity" in American English is in Tennesee Williams's play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof . Here are a couple of comm

[nq:2]As for "disingenuous," it's a lawyer's favorite a big, slightly obscure word meaning "lying."[/nq]
[nq:1]To me its meaning is a lot more specific than that something like "pretending ignorance".[/nq]
Could be, but it can also mean devious or insincere.

Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa