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deception Definition

de·cep·tion (dē seps̸hən, di-)

noun

  1. the act or practice of deceiving
  2. the fact or condition of being deceived
  3. something that deceives, as an illusion, or is meant to deceive, as a fraud

Etymology: ME decepcioun < OFr deception < L deceptio < pp. of decipere: see deceive

deception Synonyms

deception

n.

  1. The practice of deceiving

    trickery, double-dealing, deceit, dishonesty, fraud, chicanery, subterfuge, duplicity, mendacity, untruth, dupery, insincerity, indirection, craftiness, circumvention, juggling, defraudation, treachery, treason, betrayal, pretense, disinformation, falsehood, trickiness, trumpery, beguilement, cozenage, humbug, hypocrisy, lying, sophism, deceitfulness, equivocation, prevarication, cunning, artifice, guile, misleading, deceiving, imposture, imposition, bamboozlement, snow job*, skullduggery*, flimflam*, blarney*, hanky-panky*; see also dishonesty, hypocrisy.

    Antonyms honesty*, frankness*, sincerity. *

  2. A deceptive act

    hoax, swindle, fraud; see trick 1.

deception is applied to anything that deceives, whether by design or illusion; fraud suggests deliberate deception in dishonestly depriving a person of property, rights, etc.; subterfuge suggests an artifice or stratagem used to hide one's true objective, to evade something, or to gain some end; trickery implies the use of tricks or ruses in deceiving others; chicanery implies the use of clever but tricky talk or action, esp. in legal actions

deception Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • perpetrate: Meanwhile, Brian ponders perpetrating a little deception of his own, much to David's disquiet.
  • practice: We know of no other carpet in which the designer has practiced such subtle deception.
  • detect: The system built was tested by making an attempt to detect deception.
  • expose: I shall expose thy deceptions, in the name of the living God!
  • discover: A few days later, when he discovered the deception, he was ready to destroy the lot of them.
  • involve: In these proceedings the same issue was involved deception of the public.

Converse of subject

obtain: She successfully represented a client in proceedings against a solicitor and recovered the repayment of monies obtained by deception and costs.

Adjective modifier

  • artful: For artful deception need to get driving looking at takes a certain.
  • deliberate: In our opinion this is deliberate deception by the council to conceal the extent of the plans.
  • intentional: Intentional deception of the participants over the purpose and general nature of the investigation should be avoided whenever possible.
  • cruel: Surely society has a duty to protect the gullible from such cruel deception.
  • attempted: Ingram was convicted of one offense of deception, and one of attempted deception perpetrated against the Direct Line Insurance Company.
  • elaborate: An elaborate deception spun by all-powerful machines of artificial intelligence that control the human population.

Modifies a noun

  • operation: A massive deception operation pointing to an attack on Calais also helped to keep the German focus away from the Normandy beaches.
  • campaign: The public is the major threat to their strategy, which explains why they resort to public deception campaigns.
  • effort: Any support PSYOP can add to the deception effort will help protect the FARPs.
  • plan: Often, movements in the corps area are an integral part of the corps deception plan.
  • charge: Channel Four said that the program had responsibly and fully dealt with Mr Jenkins ' deception charge.

Noun used with modifier

self: Who was up to their neck in self deception now?

Preposition: of

public: In these proceedings the same issue was involved deception of the public.

Browse dictionary entries near deception

  1. decentralize
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  3. decent
  4. decennium
  5. decennial
  6. decennary
  7. decency
  8. decemvirate
  9. decemvir
  10. Decembrist
  1. deceptive
  2. decerebrate
  3. decertify
  4. deci-
  5. decibel
  6. decibels per kilometer
  7. decide
  8. decided
  9. decidedly
  10. deciding