deceit
/dɪˈsiːt
/noun [mass noun]
The action or practice of deceiving someone by concealing or misrepresenting the truth: a web of deceit hypocrisy and deceit were anathema to her [count noun]: a series of lies and deceits...
- I can't take the lies and deceit anymore, the truth had to come out sometime and here it is.
- He argued that ‘hidden beneath the polished exterior of modern democracy are deceit, violence, corruption, mendacity, hypocrisy and oppression of the poor’.
- It's time for a new politics of genuine social justice for all the peoples of the world; not the chicanery, deceit and lies to which we've been treated to in the last weeks and months.
Synonyms
deception, deceitfulness, duplicity, double-dealing, fraud, fraudulence, cheating, trickery, duping, hoodwinking, chicanery, underhandedness, deviousness, slyness, cunning, craftiness, craft, wiliness, artfulness, guile, dissimulation, dissembling, bluff, bluffing, lying, pretence, artifice, treachery
informal crookedness, monkey business, funny business, hanky-panky, jiggery-pokery
North American informal monkeyshines
Irish informal codology
archaic management, knavery
sham, fraud, pretence, imposture, hoax, fake, misrepresentation, blind, wile, artifice, Trojan horse;
trick, stratagem, device, ruse, scheme, dodge, manoeuvre, contrivance, machination, deception, subterfuge, cheat, swindle, confidence trick
informal con, con trick, set-up, game, scam, sting, gyp, leg-pull, flimflam
British informal wheeze
North American informal bunco, grift
Australian informal lurk, rort
South African informal schlenter
British informal, dated flanker
archaic shift, fetch, rig
Origin
Middle English: from Old French, past participle (used as a noun) of deceveir 'deceive'.