deceptive

See also: déceptive

English

Etymology

From Middle French déceptif, from Latin dēceptīvus, from dēcipiō (“I deceive”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɪˈsɛp.tɪv/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛptɪv

Adjective

deceptive (comparative more deceptive, superlative most deceptive)

1. Likely or attempting to deceive.

   Synonyms: misleading; see also Thesaurus:deceptive

   deceptive practices

   Appearances can be deceptive.

   • 1653, John Bulwer, Anthropometamorphosis‎, London: William Hunt, Scene 24, page 521:

     […] others declare that no Creature can be made or transmuted into a better or worse, or transformed into another species […] and Martinus Delrio the Jesuit accounts this degeneration of Man into a Beast to be an illusion, deceptive and repugnant to Nature;

   • 1789, Frederick the Great, translated by Thomas Holcroft, The History of My Own Times‎, London: G.G.J. and J. Robinson, Part 1, Chapter 12, p. 163:

     […] at the opening of the campaign, the French, after various deceptive attempts on different places, suddenly invested Tournay.

   • 1846, Richard Chenevix Trench, Notes on the Miracles of Our Lord, London: John W. Parker, 2nd ed., 1847, Preliminary Essay, Chapter 2, p. 10,

     language altogether deceptive, and hiding the deeper reality from our eyes

   • 1978, Susan Sontag, chapter 2, in Illness as Metaphor‎, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, page 13:

     […] it is characteristic of TB that many of its symptoms are deceptive—liveliness that comes from enervation, rosy cheeks that look like a sign of health but come from fever—and an upsurge of vitality may be a sign of approaching death.

Derived terms

• appearances are deceptive
• deceptive advertising
• deceptive cadence
• deceptive cognate
• deceptively
• deceptiveness
• deceptivity
• nondeceptive
• undeceptive

 

Related terms

• deceit
• deceive
• deception

 

Translations

misleading, attempting to deceive

Asturian: engañosu, engañador Bulgarian: измамен (bg) (izmamen), заблуждаващ (bg) (zabluždavašt) Catalan: enganyós (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 迷惑的 (zh) (míhuò de) Czech: klamný (cs), zavádějící (cs), ošidný, matoucí, falešný (cs), podvodný Dutch: bedrieglijk (nl), onoprecht (nl), misleidend (nl) Finnish: petollinen (fi), harhaanjohtava (fi) French: trompeur (fr), qui induit en erreur, illusoire (fr), mensonger (fr) Galician: enganoso German: betrügerisch (de), irreführend (de), trügerisch (de) Greek: Ancient: ἀπατηλός (apatēlós) Hebrew: מטעה (mat'é), שקרי (shikrí) Hungarian: megtévesztő (hu) Ingrian: pettelikko Irish: fabhtach Italian: ingannevole (it) Jamaican Creole: ginnal, samfie Japanese: 欺瞞的 (ぎまんてき, gimanteki) Latin: fallax, fallens, deceptivus, captiōsus Persian: نیرنگ‌باز (neyrang-bâz) Portuguese: enganoso (pt), enganador (pt) Russian: обма́нчивый (ru) (obmánčivyj) Sanskrit: द्रुह्वन् (sa) (druhvan) Scottish Gaelic: mealltach, carach, cealgach Spanish: engañoso (es), engañador (es), delusivo, delusorio, decebiente Swedish: bedräglig (sv), missvisande (sv) Turkish: yanıltıcı (tr)