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Webster 1913 Edition


Deceive

De-ceive′

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Deceived
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Deceiving
.]
[OE.
deceveir
, F.
décevoir
, fr. L.
decipere
to catch, insnare, deceive;
de-
+
capere
to take, catch. See
Capable
, and cf.
Deceit
,
Deception
.]
1.
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
.
2 Tim. iii. 13.
Nimble jugglers that
deceive
the eye.
Shakespeare
What can ’scape the eye
Of God all-seeing, or
deceive
his heart?
Milton.
2.
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.
Wordsworth.
3.
To deprive by fraud or stealth; to defraud.
[Obs.]
Syn.
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.

Webster 1828 Edition


Deceive

DECE'IVE

,
Verb.
T.
[L to take asid, to ensnare.]

Definition 2024


deceive

deceive

English

Alternative forms

Verb

deceive (third-person singular simple present deceives, present participle deceiving, simple past and past participle deceived)

  1. To trick or mislead.
    • 2012 April 26, Tasha Robinson, “Film: Reviews: The Pirates! Band Of Misfits :”, in The Onion AV Club:
      Hungry for fame and the approval of rare-animal collector Queen Victoria (Imelda Staunton), Darwin deceives the Captain and his crew into believing they can get enough booty to win the pirate competition by entering Polly in a science fair. So the pirates journey to London in cheerful, blinkered defiance of the Queen, a hotheaded schemer whose royal crest reads simply “I hate pirates.”

Synonyms

  • See also Wikisaurus:deceive

Related terms

Translations

External links

  • deceive in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  • deceive in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911