“Technically, I didn’t lie” is a sentence only people who lied ever need.

Nobody who told the truth has to reach for the technicality. That defence only becomes necessary when the impression you created and the facts you stated have come apart, which is something you had to do on purpose. Honest people are rarely found inspecting the precise wording of what they said.

Listen for yourself building a sentence designed to be survivable later. That is the moment to stop and say the plain version instead. If you have already used the technicality, go back and say what you were happy to let them believe.