untruth

[ uhn-trooth ]

/ ʌnˈtruθ /

the state or character of being untrue.

want of veracity; divergence from truth.

something untrue; a falsehood or lie.

Archaic. unfaithfulness; disloyalty.

Origin of untruth

before 900; Middle English; Old English untrēowth. See un-¹, truth

3. See falsehood.

But then people started defending--or minimizing to the point of untruth--the clearly indefensible.

Why Hugo Chavez Was Bad for Venezuela |Megan McArdle |March 7, 2013 |DAILY BEAST
He was going nuts with frustration in the face of what he considered to be phoniness and untruth.

In Vice Presidential Debate, Joe Biden Perfects Art of the Smirk |Lee Siegel |October 13, 2012 |DAILY BEAST
And then the very fact of celebrity bankrolls its own momentum, creates its own truth out of a card house of untruth.

Trump Endorsed Romney Because It Was Like Calling to Like |Lee Siegel |February 3, 2012 |DAILY BEAST
If he told an untruth, she kept silence with her lips, but scarcely with her expression.

Recollections Of My Childhood And Youth |George Brandes

Why, when I was your age I never even thought of telling an untruth.

Among the Humorists and After Dinner Speakers, Vol. I |Various
It is not honest inquiry that makes anarchy; but it is error, insincerity, half-belief and untruth that make it.

Sartor Resartus, and On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History |Thomas Carlyle
He could not speak an untruth, nor could he admit the great fear that almost stopped the beating of his heart.

Camp-fire and Wigwam |Edward Sylvester Ellis
Who on earth could ever have told you so monstrous an untruth?

A Siren |Thomas Adolphus Trollope

untruth

/ (ʌnˈtruːθ) /

the state or quality of being untrue

a statement, fact, etc, that is not true