deceit

deceit
/di seet"/, n.
1. the act or practice of deceiving; concealment or distortion of the truth for the purpose of misleading; duplicity; fraud; cheating: Once she exposed their deceit, no one ever trusted them again.
2. an act or device intended to deceive; trick; stratagem.
3. the quality of being deceitful; duplicity; falseness: a man full of deceit.
[1225-75; ME deceite < AF, OF, n. use of fem. of deceit, ptp. of deceivre to DECEIVE]
Syn. 1. deception, dissimulation. 1, 3. DECEIT, GUILE, HYPOCRISY, DUPLICITY, FRAUD, TRICKERY refer either to practices designed to mislead or to the qualities that produce those practices. DECEIT is the quality that prompts intentional concealment or perversion of truth for the purpose of misleading: honest and without deceit. The quality of GUILE leads to craftiness in the use of deceit: using guile and trickery to attain one's ends. HYPOCRISY is the pretense of possessing qualities of sincerity, goodness, devotion, etc.: It was sheer hypocrisy for him to go to church.
DUPLICITY is the form of deceitfulness that leads one to give two impressions, either or both of which may be false: the duplicity of a spy working for two governments. FRAUD refers usually to the practice of subtle deceit or duplicity by which one may derive benefit at another's expense: an advertiser convicted of fraud. TRICKERY is the quality that leads to the use of tricks and habitual deception: notorious for his trickery in business deals.
Ant. 3. honesty, sincerity.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • deceit — de·ceit n: deliberate and misleading concealment, false declaration, or artifice: deception theft by deceit; also: the tort of committing or carrying out deceit an action for deceit see also fraud, misrepresentation …   Law dictionary

  • deceit — 1 Deceit, duplicity, dissimulation, cunning, guile mean the quality, the habit, the act, or the practice of imposing upon the credulity of others by dishonesty, fraud, or trickery. Deceit usually implies the intent to mislead or delude; otherwise …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • Deceit — De*ceit , n. [OF. deceit, des[,c]ait, decept (cf. deceite, de[,c]oite), fr. L. deceptus deception, fr. decipere. See {Deceive}.] 1. An attempt or disposition to deceive or lead into error; any declaration, artifice, or practice, which misleads… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • deceit — de‧ceit [dɪˈsiːt] noun [countable, uncountable] behaviour that is intended to make someone believe something that is not true: • Victims of the firm s fraud and deceit are seeking redress in the courts. * * * deceit UK US /dɪˈsiːt/ noun [U] ►… …   Financial and business terms

  • Deceit — Album par This Heat Sortie 1981 Enregistrement 1981 Durée 40:45 Genre Post punk Rock expérimental Producteur …   Wikipédia en Français

  • deceit — [n1] practice of misleading ambidexterity, ambidextrousness, artifice, cheating, chicane, chicanery, cozening, craft, craftiness, cunning, deceitfulness, deception, defrauding, dirty dealing*, dirty pool*, dishonesty, dissemblance, dissimulation …   New thesaurus

  • deceit — c.1300, from O.Fr. deceite, fem. pp. of deceveir (see DECEIVE (Cf. deceive)) …   Etymology dictionary

  • deceit — ► NOUN 1) the action or practice of deceiving. 2) a deceitful act or statement …   English terms dictionary

  • deceit — [dē sēt′, disēt′] n. [ME < OFr deceite < pp. of deceveir: see DECEIVE] 1. the act of representing as true what is known to be false; a deceiving or lying 2. a dishonest action or trick; fraud or lie 3. the quality of being deceitful …   English World dictionary

  • deceit — de•ceit [[t]dɪˈsit[/t]] n. 1) the act or practice of deceiving 2) a stratagem intended to deceive 3) the quality of being deceitful; duplicity • Etymology: 1225–75; deceite < OF, n. use of fem. of deceit, ptp. of deceivre to deceive syn:… …   From formal English to slang

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