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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 or prevents harm that's the full truth would have caused.

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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  • I'd like to point out here that this question is DIFFERENT than the one that's its being connected to. I asked this question before and it was closed saying a similar question was asked. https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/440236/an-english-word-for-deception-without-telling-a-lie. My question clearly states that it's not "deceptive" whereas that question is asking about words similar to deceptive. – Santeewa Sep 05 '21 at 19:20
  • If you have a question closed as a duplicate, it's better to put the case for reopening the original than to ask the same question again. – KillingTime Sep 05 '21 at 19:23
  • Sorry. Didn't know I could do that. Not sure how to do it. Only gave one option and that's to ask again. I'll have a look. – Santeewa Sep 05 '21 at 19:24
  • You could just call it an omission. – Tinfoil Hat Sep 05 '21 at 21:05
  • @KillingTime - but then you might get stuck waiting around for a reopening that never happens. Happened to me, when someone with an itchy trigger finger wrongfully, most wrongfully, accused a post of mine of being a duplicate. It's possible that it was automatically closed when I declined to edit the question - I'm not really sure how it works. – cruthers Sep 06 '21 at 00:27

1 Answers1

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This is called a white lie

a lie about a small or unimportant matter that someone tells to avoid hurting another person

but this is specifically when the lie is for a good reason.

If it's a lie because some details were omitted for no particular reason, I would call it a half-truth

a statement that is only partially true

though this term tends to have a negative connotation.

cigien
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  • I think OP is asking about when details are omitted but no lies were told. The reason they say “the truth, *the whole truth* and nothing but the truth.” with a white lie it is a lie albeit a harmless one. – Jim Sep 05 '21 at 19:59
  • Right, there is intent to mislead in a white lie. The OP wants a word where there is no intent to mislead. – cruthers Sep 06 '21 at 00:26
  • @Jim and cruthers Yes, I've also provided an option for that, "half-truth", for the case where information is simply omitted. – cigien Sep 06 '21 at 00:31
  • I think half-truth has a strong connotation (that may not be captured by M-W) of an untoward intent. – cruthers Sep 06 '21 at 00:33
  • @cruthers I've mentioned that half-truth has a negative connotation. I'm not sure what M-W means, could you clarify that? – cigien Sep 06 '21 at 00:35
  • @cigien: I was referring to Merriam-Webster, to which you linked. – cruthers Sep 06 '21 at 00:37
  • @cruthers Ah, I see. The second definition on the link does mention deception, which conveys a negative connotation. Regardless, I've mentioned that explicitly in the answer, so I'm not sure that it matters whether the link conveys that aspect as well. (I've only linked to it for the definition). – cigien Sep 06 '21 at 00:39