"polite fiction" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "polite fictions",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "polite fiction (plural polite fictions)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Susan is only able to deal with the fact that her husband has sex with the man down the street through a polite fiction. She knows what her husband is really doing when he says he is going \"to buy cigarettes\"."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A social scenario in which all participants are aware of a truth, but pretend to believe in some alternative version of events to avoid conflict or embarrassment."
      ],
      "id": "en-polite_fiction-en-noun-XhCBCxq7",
      "links": [
        [
          "social",
          "social"
        ],
        [
          "scenario",
          "scenario"
        ],
        [
          "conflict",
          "conflict"
        ],
        [
          "embarrassment",
          "embarrassment"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) A social scenario in which all participants are aware of a truth, but pretend to believe in some alternative version of events to avoid conflict or embarrassment."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "denial"
        },
        {
          "word": "elephant in the room"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "polite fiction"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-polite fiction.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/14/En-au-polite_fiction.ogg/En-au-polite_fiction.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/En-au-polite_fiction.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "polite fiction"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "polite fictions",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "polite fiction (plural polite fictions)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "denial"
    },
    {
      "word": "elephant in the room"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with audio links"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Susan is only able to deal with the fact that her husband has sex with the man down the street through a polite fiction. She knows what her husband is really doing when he says he is going \"to buy cigarettes\"."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A social scenario in which all participants are aware of a truth, but pretend to believe in some alternative version of events to avoid conflict or embarrassment."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "social",
          "social"
        ],
        [
          "scenario",
          "scenario"
        ],
        [
          "conflict",
          "conflict"
        ],
        [
          "embarrassment",
          "embarrassment"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) A social scenario in which all participants are aware of a truth, but pretend to believe in some alternative version of events to avoid conflict or embarrassment."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "polite fiction"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-polite fiction.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/14/En-au-polite_fiction.ogg/En-au-polite_fiction.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/En-au-polite_fiction.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "polite fiction"
}