deceptive

[dih-sep-tiv]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR deceptive ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

apt or tending to deceive: The enemy's peaceful overtures may be deceptive.

perceptually misleading: It looks like a curved line, but it's deceptive.

Origin of deceptive

1605–15; < Medieval Latin dēceptīvus, equivalent to Latin dēcept(us) (see deception) + -īvus -ive

Related formsde·cep·tive·ly, adverbde·cep·tive·ness, nounnon·de·cep·tive, adjectivenon·de·cep·tive·ly, adverbnon·de·cep·tive·ness, nounun·de·cep·tive, adjectiveun·de·cep·tive·ly, adverbun·de·cep·tive·ness, noun

Synonyms for deceptive

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR deceptive ON THESAURUS.COM

1. delusive, fallacious, specious.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for deceptiveness

falsehood, fraud, trickery, duplicity, hypocrisy, betrayal, untruth, deceit, mendacity, treachery, lying, disinformation, fantasy, hallucination, deception, illusion, prevarication, misinterpretation, heresy, paradox

Examples from the Web for deceptiveness

Contemporary Examples of deceptiveness

That the Obama administration is "trafficking in stereotypes about Jewish deceptiveness and appetite for blood."
Neo-Con Lee Smith Smears Obama Administration as Anti-Semitic
Ali Gharib
November 22, 2013
But at this moment Jones discovers for the first time the deceptiveness of visual memory.
Hagel's Orwell Moment on India
David Frum
February 26, 2013

Historical Examples of deceptiveness

We have learnt to prize Him in proportion as we have learnt the deceptiveness of all beside!
Sermons
Clement Bailhache
He had moments through the night of recognizing the deceptiveness of his senses.
Aurora the Magnificent
Gertrude Hall
And then he laughed at the deceptiveness and the wild humor of his own speech.
True and Other Stories
George Parsons Lathrop
College mates of Taylor will recall the deceptiveness of this outward appearance.
Jukes-Edwards
A. E. Winship
Moralizing on the deceptiveness of appearances, Crimmins fortified himself with another slab of cut-plug.
Garrison's Finish
W. B. M. Ferguson

British Dictionary definitions for deceptiveness

deceptive

adjective

likely or designed to deceive; misleadingappearances can be deceptive

music (of a cadence) another word for interrupted (def. 3)

Derived Formsdeceptively, adverbdeceptiveness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for deceptiveness

deceptive

adj.

1610s, from French deceptif (late 14c.), from Medieval Latin deceptivus, from decept-, past participle stem of Latin decipere (see deceive). Earlier in this sense was deceptious (c.1600), from French deceptieux, from Medieval Latin deceptiosus, from deceptionem. Related: Deceptively; deceptiveness.