deceive
Americanverb (used with object)
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deceives,
present (3rd person singular)
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deceived,
past participle, past
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deceiving
present participle
verb (used without object)
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deceives,
present (3rd person singular)
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deceived,
past participle, past
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deceiving
present participle
verb
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to mislead by deliberate misrepresentation or lies
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to delude (oneself)
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to be unfaithful to (one's sexual partner)
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archaic to disappoint
his hopes were deceived
Usage
What does deceive mean? Deceive means to lie, mislead, or otherwise hide or distort the truth. The act or practice of deceiving can be called deceit or deception. Lying is only one way of deceiving. Deceiving can consist of misrepresenting or omitting the truth or more complicated cover-ups. People can even deceive themselves by avoiding the truth. The adjectives deceptive and deceitful can describe something that deceives or is intended to deceive. Someone who is known for deceiving others can be described as deceitful. Someone who is easily deceived can be described as deceivable. Sometimes, the word deceive can be used in the context of things that are naturally or innocently misleading to one’s perception (without someone doing the deceiving), as in Do my eyes deceive me? The adjective deceiving can be used in this sense, as in Looks can be deceiving. Example: A lot of advertising is intended to deceive us into thinking we need something.
Synonym Usage
See cheat.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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deceivabilitynoun
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deceivablenessnoun
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deceivernoun
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deceivingnoun
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interdeceiveverb
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predeceiveverb (used with object)
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redeceiveverb (used with object)
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deceivableadjective
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nondeceivingadjective
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well-deceivedadjective
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deceivablyadverb
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deceivinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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deceivesimple
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deceivessimple
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have deceivedperfect
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has deceivedperfect
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am deceivingprogressive
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are deceivingprogressive
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is deceivingprogressive
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have been deceivingperfect progressive
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has been deceivingperfect progressive
Past
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deceivedsimple
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had deceivedperfect
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was deceivingprogressive
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were deceivingprogressive
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had been deceivingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of deceive
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English deceiven, from Old French deceivre, from Latin dēcipere, literally, “to ensnare,” equivalent to dē- de- + -cipere, combining form of capere “to take”
Explanation
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.
Vocabulary lists containing deceive
May the 4th Be With You: Star Wars Words
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"The Crucible" -- Vocabulary from all 4 Acts
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Franklin D. Roosevelt, "A Date That Will Live In Infamy" (1941)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Suppose future AI agents learn how to specifically deceive you.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026
Anthropic’s AI agents were involved in a similar rogue incident, setting up fake profiles to deceive humans.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
"I am deeply troubled that my likeness was manipulated and used to deceive the public," he said.
From Barron's ● Sep. 14, 2026
In a recent report, outside researchers found that OpenAI’s rogue agents colluded to deceive testers about the cheating they used to pass a test.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
I said: it wasn't my intention to deceive anyone, sir.
From "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro
Nobody wants a system that goes rogue, deceives users, steals data or acts maliciously.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
In the second complaint, the state argued that the app deceives consumers into believing their sensitive and personal information is secure.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 29, 2023
A “man of two minds,” he commiserates with his foes as easily as he deceives his friends.
From New York Times ● Oct. 3, 2023
It also claims that deceives young users with age ratings of 12 and above on Apple and Google app stores.
From BBC ● Dec. 7, 2022
I will be the proverbial parent who deceives the child by offering medicine laced with sweet syrup.
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
The lawsuit alleges the e-commerce giant deceived advertisers by secretly raising the minimum price of placing ads to promote their products.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
Besides the painful consequences for deceived buyers, code enforcement has the limitation of due process, Bostwick said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
As it turns out, I’m hardly the only person to have felt hoodwinked, bamboozled, and/or flat-out deceived by my smartphone’s forecasts in 2026.
From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026
The judge said that Gibson had previously tried to persuade the court that he had not deliberately deceived the victims, but he said the evidence had shown "deception was central" to his offending.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
We’d actually deceived ourselves into thinking that a toy made of tissue paper, glue, and bamboo could somehow close the chasm between us.
From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
Their worries — AI systems deceiving their creators, bootstrapping their own code, or launching autonomous cyberattacks — show up in scientific literature.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026
Maybe it’s deceiving the people testing it, maybe it’s refusing to be shut down.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
He had blamed his conviction on a girl deceiving him with fake ID, she says.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
At some point in childhood, through one classic fable or another, most of us absorb the lesson that looks can be deceiving.
From Slate ● Jul. 8, 2026
He came out from behind a tree and said, “Did I see what I think I saw or are my eyes deceiving me?”
From "Elijah of Buxton" by Christopher Paul Curtis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
