Synonyms for deception
dɪˈsɛp ʃənde·cep·tion

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:5.0 / 2 votes

1. deception

   Deceit is the habit, deception the act; guile applies to the disposition out of which deceit and deception grow, and also to their actual practise. A lie, lying, or falsehood, is the uttering of what one knows to be false with intent to deceive. The novel or drama is not a lie, because not meant to deceive; the ancient teaching that the earth was flat was not a lie, because not then known to be false. Untruth is more than lack of accuracy, implying always lack of veracity; but it is a somewhat milder and more dignified word than lie. Falsehood and lying are in utterance; deceit and deception may be merely in act or implication. Deception may be innocent, and even unintentional, as in the case of an optical illusion; deceit always involves injurious intent. Craft and cunning have not necessarily any moral quality; they are common traits of animals, but stand rather low in the human scale. Duplicity is the habitual speaking or acting with intent to appear to mean what one does not. Dissimulation is rather a concealing of what is than a pretense of what is not. Finesse is simply an adroit and delicate management of a matter for one's own side, not necessarily involving deceit. Compare ARTIFICE; FICTION; FRAUD; HYPOCRISY.

   Synonyms:
   craft, cunning, deceit, deceitfulness, delusion, dissimulation, double-dealing, duplicity, fabrication, falsehood, finesse, fraud, guile, hypocrisy, imposition, lie, lying, prevarication, trickery, untruth

   Antonyms:
   candor, fair dealing, frankness, guilelessness, honesty, openness, simplicity, sincerity, truth, veracity

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:5.0 / 1 vote

1. misrepresentation, deceit, deceptionnoun

   a misleading falsehood

   Synonyms:
   thaumaturgy, magic trick, trick, deceit, fraudulence, falsification, conjuring trick, dissimulation, conjuration, legerdemain, magic, misrepresentation, illusion, dissembling

2. deception, deceit, dissembling, dissimulationnoun

   the act of deceiving

   Synonyms:
   dissembling, trick, pretence, legerdemain, fraudulence, magic trick, feigning, deceit, conjuring trick, thaumaturgy, dissimulation, illusion, misrepresentation, magic, conjuration, pretense

3. magic trick, conjuring trick, trick, magic, legerdemain, conjuration, thaumaturgy, illusion, deceptionnoun

   an illusory feat; considered magical by naive observers

   Synonyms:
   fantasy, joke, trick, illusion, incantation, legerdemain, phantasy, magic trick, dissembling, caper, semblance, head game, put-on, fast one, dissimulation, fancy, delusion, thaumaturgy, antic, conjury, prank, misrepresentation, magic, invocation, whoremaster, john, conjuration, deceit, whoremonger, conjuring trick, conjuring

Matched Categories

1. • Performance

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. deceptionnoun

   Synonyms:
   imposture, imposition, DECEIT

2. deceptionnoun

   Synonyms:
   TRICK, cheat, ruse, wile, stratagem, chouse

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. deceptionnoun

   Synonyms:
   imposition, craft, duplicity, deceit, hoax, fallacy, ruse, imposture, artifice, illusion, prevarication, finesse, dissimulation, cozenage, sophistry, coggery

   Antonyms:
   guilelessness, candor, disillusionment, fair dealing, sincerity

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "deception":

   deceit, fraud, scam, cheating, disappointment, misrepresentation, delusion, sham, trickery, hoax

How to pronounce deception?

How to say deception in sign language?

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

1. [["1520","1"],["1524","1"],["1563","1"],["1587","6"],["1590","4"],["1607","2"],["1624","2"],["1635","1"],["1644","1"],["1645","4"],["1647","2"],["1648","4"],["1649","1"],["1651","2"],["1652","1"],["1654","1"],["1656","1"],["1658","3"],["1659","1"],["1662","1"],["1673","2"],["1675","2"],["1676","4"],["1677","1"],["1678","1"],["1679","2"],["1680","1"],["1681","1"],["1683","1"],["1684","2"],["1686","3"],["1688","1"],["1689","3"],["1690","1"],["1696","1"],["1698","2"],["1700","3"],["1701","3"],["1702","3"],["1704","3"],["1705","3"],["1706","3"],["1707","2"],["1708","1"],["1709","2"],["1710","2"],["1712","3"],["1713","2"],["1714","2"],["1715","3"],["1716","2"],["1717","2"],["1719","2"],["1720","11"],["1721","2"],["1722","3"],["1723","1"],["1725","3"],["1726","1"],["1727","1"],["1728","6"],["1729","2"],["1730","1"],["1731","5"],["1732","10"],["1733","2"],["1734","9"],["1736","11"],["1737","2"],["1738","19"],["1739","18"],["1740","7"],["1741","24"],["1742","12"],["1743","1"],["1744","10"],["1745","4"],["1746","6"],["1747","9"],["1748","14"],["1749","6"],["1750","11"],["1751","15"],["1752","14"],["1753","21"],["1754","38"],["1755","40"],["1756","15"],["1757","15"],["1758","24"],["1759","39"],["1760","14"],["1761","42"],["1762","14"],["1763","68"],["1764","81"],["1765","48"],["1766","53"],["1767","82"],["1768","48"],["1769","82"],["1770","93"],["1771","76"],["1772","61"],["1773","68"],["1774","75"],["1775","89"],["1776","85"],["1777","146"],["1778","58"],["1779","75"],["1780","67"],["1781","90"],["1782","109"],["1783","111"],["1784","107"],["1785","170"],["1786","217"],["1787","198"],["1788","197"],["1789","129"],["1790","165"],["1791","294"],["1792","300"],["1793","289"],["1794","270"],["1795","308"],["1796","348"],["1797","325"],["1798","315"],["1799","329"],["1800","424"],["1801","807"],["1802","548"],["1803","666"],["1804","564"],["1805","712"],["1806","718"],["1807","730"],["1808","710"],["1809","812"],["1810","911"],["1811","1101"],["1812","827"],["1813","858"],["1814","902"],["1815","963"],["1816","1005"],["1817","1223"],["1818","1207"],["1819","1128"],["1820","1313"],["1821","992"],["1822","1627"],["1823","1760"],["1824","2150"],["1825","2030"],["1826","1472"],["1827","2266"],["1828","1971"],["1829","1785"],["1830","1925"],["1831","2011"],["1832","2222"],["1833","2441"],["1834","2217"],["1835","2878"],["1836","2750"],["1837","2364"],["1838","2496"],["1839","2830"],["1840","2633"],["1841","2443"],["1842","2473"],["1843","4405"],["1844","2567"],["1845","2861"],["1846","3069"],["1847","2629"],["1848","2651"],["1849","2988"],["1850","3337"],["1851","3465"],["1852","3792"],["1853","3852"],["1854","4192"],["1855","4042"],["1856","4088"],["1857","3283"],["1858","3090"],["1859","3625"],["1860","3796"],["1861","2836"],["1862","2028"],["1863","2489"],["1864","3087"],["1865","2644"],["1866","3047"],["1867","2783"],["1868","2939"],["1869","2807"],["1870","3041"],["1871","3052"],["1872","3118"],["1873","3121"],["1874","3262"],["1875","3309"],["1876","3559"],["1877","3448"],["1878","2555"],["1879","3251"],["1880","4028"],["1881","3719"],["1882","3730"],["1883","4609"],["1884","4049"],["1885","4445"],["1886","3322"],["1887","4004"],["1888","3863"],["1889","3312"],["1890","3804"],["1891","3848"],["1892","4412"],["1893","4268"],["1894","3980"],["1895","4470"],["1896","4466"],["1897","4284"],["1898","4947"],["1899","5863"],["1900","6242"],["1901","5347"],["1902","6003"],["1903","5322"],["1904","7298"],["1905","7420"],["1906","5938"],["1907","6137"],["1908","5535"],["1909","5335"],["1910","5035"],["1911","5435"],["1912","5416"],["1913","4839"],["1914","5033"],["1915","4794"],["1916","4351"],["1917","4456"],["1918","4474"],["1919","4355"],["1920","5846"],["1921","4259"],["1922","5306"],["1923","4406"],["1924","4145"],["1925","4128"],["1926","3848"],["1927","4786"],["1928","4717"],["1929","4849"],["1930","4473"],["1931","4643"],["1932","4256"],["1933","3347"],["1934","3998"],["1935","4741"],["1936","4486"],["1937","4372"],["1938","4261"],["1939","4309"],["1940","4287"],["1941","3552"],["1942","3866"],["1943","2869"],["1944","2685"],["1945","3384"],["1946","5295"],["1947","5221"],["1948","5363"],["1949","5330"],["1950","6174"],["1951","6030"],["1952","6292"],["1953","6249"],["1954","6057"],["1955","7018"],["1956","6574"],["1957","7274"],["1958","7564"],["1959","8147"],["1960","9141"],["1961","10050"],["1962","11671"],["1963","12021"],["1964","11536"],["1965","13625"],["1966","14828"],["1967","15492"],["1968","17478"],["1969","16704"],["1970","19054"],["1971","18104"],["1972","18917"],["1973","20049"],["1974","18541"],["1975","19592"],["1976","20472"],["1977","20948"],["1978","23415"],["1979","22957"],["1980","22759"],["1981","22005"],["1982","24155"],["1983","23871"],["1984","24584"],["1985","28850"],["1986","32434"],["1987","31210"],["1988","36107"],["1989","39126"],["1990","37689"],["1991","37434"],["1992","39152"],["1993","40273"],["1994","42843"],["1995","42247"],["1996","50358"],["1997","47745"],["1998","51329"],["1999","54812"],["2000","61641"],["2001","63123"],["2002","68797"],["2003","79536"],["2004","89812"],["2005","80861"],["2006","91663"],["2007","100223"],["2008","115804"]]

Words popularity by usage frequency

How to use deception in a sentence?

1. Saul Bellow:

   The worst of all deceptions is self-deception.

2. John Fleming:

   For years the IRS has abused its power to target people based on their political views. Commissioner John Koskinen not only did nothing about it, but continued the trend of deception by deliberately keeping Congress and the American people in the dark, to date no one has been held accountable and no one will unless we move forward with a resolution to require a vote on his impeachment.

3. Sun-tzu:

   A military operation involves deception. Even though you are competent, appear to be incompetent. Though effective, appear to be ineffective.

4. Donald Trump:

   I would like to begin tonight’s proceeding differently than perhaps any other event of such magnitude, on behalf of our nation, I want to apologize to Brett and the entire Kavanaugh family for the terrible pain and suffering you have been forced to endure. Those who step forward to serve our country deserve a fair and dignified evaluation, not a campaign of political and personal destruction based on lies and deception.

5. Chris Carr:

   Fraud by state employees will not be tolerated, by working with Georgia’s independent Inspector General, we were able to discover, investigate and put an end to this alleged deception. We will always stand up to protect taxpayer dollars, and we look forward to presenting our case in court.