tall tale

1. An exaggerated, unreliable story: “My uncle claims that he was raised in a drainage ditch, but it's just another of his tall tales.”

Idioms and Phrases

A fanciful or greatly exaggerated story, as in Some youngsters love tall tales about creatures from outer space coming to earth. This idiom uses tall in the sense of “exaggerated.” [Mid-1800s]

Example Sentences

Most of the stories were tall tales and urban legends told to entertain or to score some popularity.

From Salon

The spokesperson added: "We stand ready to annihilate Ms Pisciotta's tall tales before a jury − an exoneration so inevitable that even she, lost in her fog of fantasy, must surely see it coming."

From BBC

He delights in tall tales of a Barbary lion that has escaped Northern Africa and now roams the streets of Paris.

From Los Angeles Times

But you have to wonder whether his mother told him a tall tale as a child to comfort him.

From Los Angeles Times

A father’s fantastical tall tales aim to ease the pain of separation in this auspicious first feature inspired by director Klaudia Reynicke’s childhood in 1990s Lima, Peru.

From Los Angeles Times