mendacious
/mɛnˈdeɪʃəs/adjective
mendacious is spelled M-E-N-D-A-C-I-O-U-S: 10 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 9 million words in written English, the 88,353rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, mendacious means “Lying, untruthful or dishonest” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in mendacious?
| Letters | 10: M-E-N-D-A-C-I-O-U-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 9 million words; the 88,353rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is mendacious?
Mendacious appears about once in every 9 million words in written English, the 88,353rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce mendacious?
- /mɛnˈdeɪʃəs/
Mendacious has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vininn126-mendacious.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of mendacious
- more mendacious comparative
- most mendacious superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does mendacious mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Lying, untruthful or dishonest.
He was dismissed as a mendacious witness.
- 2
False or untrue.
mendacious propaganda
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Mendacious in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense lying, untruthful or dishonest:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | fallacieux, mensonger, trompeur |
| German | lügnerisch, verlogen, unwahr |
| Portuguese | mentiroso, mendaz |
| Spanish | mentiroso, embustero, mendaz, mendigo, mendiga |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does mendacious come from?
Borrowed from Middle French mendacieux, from Latin mendācium (“lie, untruth”), from mendāx (“lying”), + -ious.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).