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It's not "lying" and it's not "deceiving" because deceiving requires an intention to mislead...to decieve.

It's more like omiting info (sometimes vital) from what's being said for whatever reason. That reason does not have to be malicious. It can even be regarded as good. So the word I'm looking for does not have an immediate negative connotation.

For example:

"why were you late?"

"I was late because of the traffic".

Although it is technically true, the speaker omitted the fact that it was because there was a shoot out and the road was blocked.

It's not a lie, it's a ____________.

Santeewa
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1 Answers1

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It's not a lie, it's a half-truth.

half-truth (n.)

A proposition or statement which is or conveys only one half or a part of the truth. OED (Earliest citation is 1658.)

Half-truths are always misleading; and to base one's calculation from the figures on one side of the ledger is never good business policy. The Arena, Vol. 7, Part 2 (1893)

This is a studied half-truth. He failed to mention that the so-called alphabetization program consisted of an intense elementary course in Communist indoctrination, containing vicious and malicious attacks against the United States. "Attempts of Pro-Castro Fources to Pervert the American Press" (1962)

DjinTonic
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