deceiveverb [ T ]
uk/dɪˈsiːv/us/dɪˈsiːv/B2 to persuade someone that something false is the truth, or to keep the truth hidden from someone for your own advantage:
The company deceived customers by selling old computers as new ones.
The sound of the door closing deceived me into thinking they had gone out.
Synonym
trick
deceive yourself
to refuse to accept the truth:
She thinks he'll come back, but she's deceiving herself.
More examples
- Anyway, I can't deceive him - it's against all my principles.
- He repudiated the allegation that he had tried to deceive them.
- I suspect these statistics flatter to deceive.
- What really angered her was the dirty underhand way they had deceived her.
- They deceived us into thinking they would come back later with our money.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Cheating & tricking
- a numbers game idiom
- bad faith
- bamboozle
- bilk
- blackmail
- fleece
- gag
- honeyfuggle
- hoodwink
- impersonate
- jape
- jiggery-pokery
- poison
- ruse
- scam
- scammer
- screw
- sell sb a bill of goods idiom
- shaft
- wool
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Refusing & rejecting
deceiver
noun [ C ] uk/dɪˈsiː.vər/us/dɪˈsiː.vɚ/
someone who deceives people
Idiom(s)
are my eyes deceiving me?