noun ·3 syllables ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   An instance of actions and/or schemes fabricated to mislead someone into believing a lie or inaccuracy. countable, uncountable

   "deliberate deception"

2. 2
   an illusory feat; considered magical by naive observers wordnet
3. 3
   the act of deceiving wordnet
4. 4
   a misleading falsehood wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

deceitactingaffectationairy nothingappearanceartifice

Antonyms

All antonyms

candor

Example

More examples

"The art of pleasing is the art of deception."

Etymology

From Middle English decepcioun, from Old French decepcion, from Latin dēcipiō (“to deceive”).

Related phrases

self-deception

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.