DECEIVE • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Deceive

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/dɪsˈiv/ Listen

verb

Deceive v. t. (past & past part. deceived; pres. part. deceiving)

To lead into error; to cause to believe what is false, or disbelieve what is true; to impose upon; to mislead; to cheat; to disappoint; to delude; to insnare. "Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived." "Nimble jugglers that deceive the eye." "What can 'scape the eye Of God all-seeing, or deceive his heart?"

To beguile; to amuse, so as to divert the attention; to while away; to take away as if by deception. "These occupations oftentimes deceived The listless hour."

To deprive by fraud or stealth; to defraud. (Obs.) "Plant fruit trees in large borders, and set therein fine flowers, but thin and sparingly, lest they deceive the trees."

Synonyms: Deceive, Delude, Mislead. Deceive is a general word applicable to any kind of misrepresentation affecting faith or life. To delude, primarily, is to make sport of, by deceiving, and is accomplished by playing upon one's imagination or credulity, as by exciting false hopes, causing him to undertake or expect what is impracticable, and making his failure ridiculous. It implies some infirmity of judgment in the victim, and intention to deceive in the deluder. But it is often used reflexively, indicating that a person's own weakness has made him the sport of others or of fortune; as, he deluded himself with a belief that luck would always favor him. To mislead is to lead, guide, or direct in a wrong way, either willfully or ignorantly.

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Etymology of 'Deceive'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Deceive" Quotes from Famous Books

... to the husband, and deceive the wife.... You men have two codes of ethics—a loose, convenient one for yourselves, a tight, uncompromising one for us. There are no two codes of ethics. Right is right, and wrong is wrong; and there can be no compromise. ...

— A Fool There Was • Porter Emerson Browne

... possible to believe such reveries as these? For these men, supposing that such things as never any mask-maker, potter, designer of wonderful images, or skilful and all-daring painter durst join together, to deceive or make sport for the beholders, are seriously and in good earnest existent,—nay, which is more, affirming that, if they are not really so, all firmness of belief, all certainty of judgment and truth, is forever gone,—do ...

— Essays and Miscellanies - The Complete Works Volume 3 • Plutarch

... answered, his eyes burning with hatred as they searched her face. 'But I have other means of learning the truth. You try vainly to deceive me.' ...

— Veranilda • George Gissing

... hastily concluded, that we intend to substitute this book for the gospels, or to obtrude our own expositions as the oracles of God. We recommend to the unlearned reader to consult us, when he finds any difficulty, as men who have laboured not to deceive ourselves, and who are without any temptation to deceive him; but as men, however, that, while they mean best, may be mistaken. Let him be careful, therefore, to distinguish what we cite from the gospels, from what we offer as our own: he will find many difficulties removed; ...

— The Works of Samuel Johnson in Nine Volumes - Volume V: Miscellaneous Pieces • Samuel Johnson

... favors; and after his disappearance from their midst, they had duly mourned for his loss—to themselves! They had played out the final act in the unimportant drama of his life: it was really asking too much to demand a repetition ... Impossible to deceive himself as to the feeling his unanticipated return had aroused:—feigned pity where he had looked for sympathetic welcome; dismay where he had expected surprised delight; and, oftener, airs of resignation, or disappointment ...

— Chita: A Memory of Last Island • Lafcadio Hearn

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