A claim you take to be true and act on accordingly.

To choose to act as though you care about the truth when you do not.

To take in what a claim is saying. In taking in the claim, you are also believing it, at least for the moment.

A belief about how the world is that has survived our best attempts to refute it, held with the view that it may yet be wrong.

To say something you believe is false while asking to be taken at your word.

Speech not meant to be taken at face value — metaphor, hyperbole, irony, or a word you’ve simply gotten wrong — isn’t a lie, however false it is.

To mislead someone without ever saying anything you believe is false; to deceive by what you leave out.

True things chosen for what they omit, a technically correct answer, a silence you let stand. The palterer tracks the truth closely — that’s where the cover comes from. Contrast bullshit, which doesn’t care either way, and lying, which gives the cover up.

To take a claim you take to be true and grasp what would refute it, what follows from it, and how it hangs together with the rest of your knowledge, leaving you able to keep, reject, or suspend judgement on it.

This step is effortful, and it can fail. Tired, rushed, or distracted, you may never take it, leaving you holding the belief you took in.