"what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive" meaning in English

See what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Phrase

Etymology: Attributed to canto 6, stanza 17 in the 1808 poem Marmion by Sir Walter Scott: "O what a tangled web we weave,/ When first we practice to deceive" Head templates: {{head|en|phrase}} what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive
  1. When one tells a simple lie, it may become necessary to tell more complex lies, eventually spiraling out of control and leading to the exposure of said deceit. Synonyms: what tangled webs we weave when first we practice to deceive Related terms: lies beget more lies
    Sense id: en-what_a_tangled_web_we_weave_when_first_we_practice_to_deceive-en-phrase-x1BEpjwE Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_text": "Attributed to canto 6, stanza 17 in the 1808 poem Marmion by Sir Walter Scott: \"O what a tangled web we weave,/ When first we practice to deceive\"",
  "head_templates": [
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      "name": "head"
    }
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
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          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
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          "source": "w"
        },
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          "source": "w"
        },
        {
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        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "When one tells a simple lie, it may become necessary to tell more complex lies, eventually spiraling out of control and leading to the exposure of said deceit."
      ],
      "id": "en-what_a_tangled_web_we_weave_when_first_we_practice_to_deceive-en-phrase-x1BEpjwE",
      "links": [
        [
          "lie",
          "lie"
        ],
        [
          "out of control",
          "out of control"
        ],
        [
          "deceit",
          "deceit"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "lies beget more lies"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "what tangled webs we weave when first we practice to deceive"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "Attributed to canto 6, stanza 17 in the 1808 poem Marmion by Sir Walter Scott: \"O what a tangled web we weave,/ When first we practice to deceive\"",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "phrase"
      },
      "expansion": "what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "lies beget more lies"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English phrases",
        "English rhyming phrases",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "When one tells a simple lie, it may become necessary to tell more complex lies, eventually spiraling out of control and leading to the exposure of said deceit."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "lie",
          "lie"
        ],
        [
          "out of control",
          "out of control"
        ],
        [
          "deceit",
          "deceit"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "what tangled webs we weave when first we practice to deceive"
    }
  ],
  "word": "what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.