adverb In a deceptive or deceiving manner; so as to deceive.
Usage Note: When
deceptively is used to modify an adjective, the meaning is often unclear. Does the sentence
The pool is deceptively shallow mean that the pool is shallower or deeper than it appears? When the Usage Panel was asked to decide, 50 percent thought the pool shallower than it appears, 32 percent thought it deeper than it appears, and 18 percent said it was impossible to judge. Thus a warning notice worded in such a way would be misinterpreted by many of the people who read it, and others would be uncertain as to which sense was intended. Where the context does not make the meaning of
deceptively clear, the sentence should be rewritten, as in
The pool is shallower than it looks or
The pool is shallow, despite its appearance.