Deceive \De*ceive"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Deceived; p. pr. &
vb. n. Deceiving.] [OE. deceveir, F. d['e]cevoir, fr. L.
decipere to catch, insnare, deceive; de- + capere to take,
catch. See Capable, and cf. Deceit, Deception.]
1. To lead into error; to cause to believe what is false, or
disbelieve what is true; to impose upon; to mislead; to
cheat; to disappoint; to delude; to insnare.
[1913 Webster]
Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse,
deceiving, and being deceived. --2 Tim. iii.
13.
[1913 Webster]
Nimble jugglers that deceive the eye. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
What can 'scape the eye
Of God all-seeing, or deceive his heart? --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
2. To beguile; to amuse, so as to divert the attention; to
while away; to take away as if by deception.
[1913 Webster]
These occupations oftentimes deceived
The listless hour. --Wordsworth.
[1913 Webster]
3. To deprive by fraud or stealth; to defraud. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
Plant fruit trees in large borders, and set therein
fine flowers, but thin and sparingly, lest they
deceive the trees. --Bacon.
Syn: Deceive, Delude, Mislead.
Usage: Deceive is a general word applicable to any kind of
misrepresentation affecting faith or life. To delude,
primarily, is to make sport of, by deceiving, and is
accomplished by playing upon one's imagination or
credulity, as by exciting false hopes, causing him to
undertake or expect what is impracticable, and making
his failure ridiculous. It implies some infirmity of
judgment in the victim, and intention to deceive in
the deluder. But it is often used reflexively,
indicating that a person's own weakness has made him
the sport of others or of fortune; as, he deluded
himself with a belief that luck would always favor
him. To mislead is to lead, guide, or direct in a
wrong way, either willfully or ignorantly.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
deceive
v 1: be false to; be dishonest with [syn: lead on, delude, cozen]
2: cause someone to believe an untruth; "The insurance company
deceived me when they told me they were covering my house"
[syn: betray, lead astray] [ant: undeceive]
WordNet (r) 2.0
108 Moby Thesaurus words for "deceive":
abuse, bamboozle, be untruthful, befool, beguile, betray, bitch,
bluff, bunk, cajole, cheat, cheat on, circumvent, con, conjure,
cozen, debauch, defile, deflower, defraud, delude, despoil, diddle,
do, dodge, double-cross, draw the longbow, dupe, elude, equivocate,
evade, exaggerate, falsify, fib, finesse, foil, fool, force,
forestall, four-flush, frustrate, gammon, get around, get round,
give the runaround, give the slip, go one better, gull, hoax,
hocus-pocus, hoodwink, hornswaggle, humbug, impose on, impose upon,
inveigle, juggle, lead astray, lead on, let down, lie, lie flatly,
mislead, mock, outfigure, outflank, outgeneral, outguess,
outmaneuver, outplay, outreach, outsmart, outwit, overreach,
pass the buck, pigeon, play one false, prevaricate, put,
put something over, rape, ravage, ravish, ruin, seduce, sell out,
shift, shift about, snow, soil, speak falsely, spoof, stonewall,
story, stretch the truth, string along, suck in, sully, swindle,
take, take in, tell a lie, throw off, trick, twist and turn,
two-time, victimize, violate
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
|
|
|