Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Deceit
De-ceit′
,Noun.
[OF.
deceit
, desçait
, decept
(cf. deceite
, deçoite
), 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 another, or causes him to believe what is false; a contrivance to entrap; deception; a wily device; fraud.
Making the ephah small and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by
deceit
. Amos viii. 5.
Friendly to man, far from
deceit
or guile. Milton.
Yet still we hug the dear
deceit
. N. Cotton.
Syn. – Deception; fraud; imposition; duplicity; trickery; guile; falsifying; double-dealing; stratagem. See
Deception
. Webster 1828 Edition
Deceit
DECE'IT
,Definition 2025
deceit
deceit
English
Alternative forms
- deceipt (obsolete)
Noun
deceit (plural deceits)
- An act or practice intended to deceive; a trick
- The whole conversation was merely a deceit.
- An act of deceiving someone
- 1998, Mike Dixon-Kennedy, Encyclopedia of Greco-Roman Mythology, page 125:
- Upon his return he killed Eriphyle for her vanity and deceit of him and his father.
-
- (uncountable) The state of being deceitful or deceptive
- 1611, “Psalms 10:7”, in King James Bible:
- His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.
-
- (law) The tort or fraudulent representation of a material fact made with knowledge of its falsity, or recklessly, or without reasonable grounds for believing its truth and with intent to induce reliance on it; the plaintiff justifiably relies on the deception, to his injury.
Synonyms
- (act or behavior intended to deceive): trick, fraud
- (act of deceiving): deception, trickery
- (state of being deceptive): underhandedness, deceptiveness, deceitfulness, dissimulation, fraudulence, trickery
- See also Wikisaurus:deception
Derived terms
Translations
act or behavior intended to deceive
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act or fact of deceiving
state of being deceptive
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legal: fraudulent representation of a material fact