stretch the truth
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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Pronunciation
Audio (General Australian): (file)
Verb
stretch the truth (third-person singular simple present stretches the truth, present participle stretching the truth, simple past and past participle stretched the truth)
- (idiomatic) To exaggerate, often to the point where the truth is obscured or lost.
- 1996 Fall, “From Sykes-Picot through Bandung to Oslo: Whither the Arab world?”, in Arab Studies Quarterly, volume 18, number 4, page 1:
- It would stretch the truth, but perhaps not tear it to tatters, to say that World War II was fought over oil.
- 2003 November 9, Jim Armstrong, “NFL players skilled at other sports”, in Houston Chronicle, Sports, page 2:
- You think they exaggerate sometimes? You think they embellish things, stretch the truth, play loose with the facts?
- 2009, Eric Kraft, Flying:
- "And you suspect them of stretching the truth? Or shrinking the truth?"
Translations
idioms: to exaggerate
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See also
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