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deceptive

[dih-sep-tiv]
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adjective
  1. apt or tending to deceive: The enemy's peaceful overtures may be deceptive.
  2. perceptually misleading: It looks like a curved line, but it's deceptive.
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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

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1. delusive, fallacious, specious.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

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

Historical Examples

  • 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.

  • 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
  1. likely or designed to deceive; misleadingappearances can be deceptive
  2. music (of a cadence) another word for interrupted (def. 3)
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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.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper