It was a lie, tout court.

那只不过是谎言。

《牛津词典》

It's just a lie.

这只是一个谎言。

youdao

That was a lie.

那是一个谎言。

youdao

But many reporters did. In time,however, an investigative reporter discovered that the whole story was a lie.

VOA: special.2009.08.17

It seemed to me as though no one would ever quote Horace again, as anything but a lie. Of course that's not the case.

对我而言尽管没有人会再援引贺拉斯，除了这个谎话，当然那不能说明什么。

耶鲁公开课 - 现代诗歌课程节选

And he's really not telling a lie, in a certain respect.

他并没有说谎，从某一方面来说。

耶鲁公开课 - 旧约导论课程节选

"On Sunday, Mum had her lunch and decided to go and have a lie-down, " he said.

BBC: Box of ashes

However, there was one pivotal piece of evidence that made his story a lie.

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When a lie is planned (and rehearsed), deceivers start their answers more quickly than truth-tellers.

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