When a speaker reveals only part of the truth and then mixes it with a lie, she or he is telling a half-truth. In practice, a half-truth has the same damaging impact as a lie: it deceives the audience. Take the example of a corporate manager required to explain to the board of directors why her company recently lost several top executives. In her presentation, she said that many of the departing executives had accepted positions at other companies or simply elected to take early retirement—normal occurrences in business. Although the first part was true, the second part was a half-truth. The two executives who chose to retire early did so as part of a legal settlement related to accusations of accounting malpractice.
