deceive
deceived; deceiving; deceives
To deceive means to trick or lie. A crafty kid might deceive his mother into thinking he has a fever by holding the thermometer to a light bulb to increase the temperature.
Deceive is the trickier cousin of lie. You might lie about why you were late to school. But if you simply don't explain to your mom that you were late in the first place, you are deceiving her. Deceive carries with it a feeling of both craftiness and betrayal. When you deceive someone, forgiveness can be hard to come by. Have you heard of the spelling rule, "i before e except after c" that has so many exceptions? Well, deceive follows that rule.
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cause someone to believe an untruth“The insurance company deceived me when they told me they were covering my house”
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synonyms:
betray, lead astray
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Antonyms:
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undeceive
free from deception or illusion
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types:
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impersonate, personate, pose
pretend to be someone you are not; sometimes with fraudulent intentions
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bamboozle, hoodwink, lead by the nose, play false, pull the wool over someone's eyes, snow
conceal one's true motives from especially by elaborately feigning good intentions so as to gain an end
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befool, cod, dupe, fool, gull, put on, put one across, put one over, slang, take in
fool or hoax
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masquerade
pretend to be someone or something that you are not
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kid, pull the leg of
tell false information to for fun
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undeceive
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be false to; be dishonest with
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types:
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betray, sell
deliver to an enemy by treachery
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cheat, chisel
engage in deceitful behavior; practice trickery or fraud
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shill
act as a shill
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flim-flam, fob, fox, play a joke on, play a trick on, play tricks, pull a fast one on, trick
deceive somebody
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befool, fool, gull
make a fool or dupe of
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betray, cheat, cheat on, cuckold, wander
be sexually unfaithful to one's partner in marriage
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hoax, play a joke on, pull someone's leg
subject to a playful hoax or joke
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ensnare, entrap, frame, set up
take or catch as if in a snare or trap
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humbug
trick or deceive
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double cross
betray by double-dealing
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job
profit privately from public office and official business
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shark
play the shark; act with trickery
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rig, set up
arrange the outcome of by means of deceit
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cozen
act with artful deceit
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crib
use a crib, as in an exam
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two-time
carry on a romantic relationship with two people at the same time
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cook, fake, falsify, fudge, manipulate, misrepresent, wangle
tamper, with the purpose of deception
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snooker
fool or dupe
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fool around, play around
commit adultery
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