live a lie

idiom

: to live in a false or deceptive way : to live in a way that does not show who one truly is or what one's feelings truly are

Their friends thought that they had a happy marriage, but they were living a lie.

Examples of live a lie in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Having recently broken things off with their fiancée, not wanting to live a lie, Helton began seeing their Idol stand-in during the season. —Nico Lang, Rolling Stone, 14 June 2024

Or, like, have to live a lie? —David Fear, Rolling Stone, 14 May 2022

And then those that were also forced to live a lie as a sacrifice for their fame. —Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 10 Mar. 2022

And the reverse is true as well: No one wants knowingly to live a lie — to be devoted to an illusion, or to participate in cultivating self-deception, about the truth of things. —Damon Linker, The Week, 8 Feb. 2022

Congratulations to all the servicemen and -women who no longer have to live a lie (at least not because of official government policy; informal discrimination is harder to eradicate). —Sean Carroll, Discover Magazine, 19 Dec. 2010