deceive
verb (used with object)
to mislead by a false appearance or statement; delude.
had been deceiving
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past perfect progressiveof deceive.past perfect progressive
Used to describe an action that was ongoing continuously in the past up until another past event interrupted it.
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.
In November 2019, a Washington state Superior Court judge ruled that TVI Inc., also known as Savers, the largest for-profit thrift retailer in the world, had been deceiving consumers for years.
From Salon ● Oct. 30, 2020
The lawyer said that his messages shouldn’t be taken at face value because, in reality, he had been deceiving Kessler all along — “misleading him deliberately in order to get the servers.”
From New York Times ● Nov. 30, 2019
When at last he discovered she had been deceiving him he was disgusted, relieved.
From Time Magazine Archive
These tales are tempting to dismiss as scripts recited by practiced liars who had been deceiving the world community for years.
From Time Magazine Archive
They were such good friends; it was so dangerous to change at a blow existing relations, to tell her that he had been deceiving her all these weeks.
From The Militants Stories of Some Parsons, Soldiers, and Other Fighters in the World by Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews
