deceive
English
Alternative forms
- deceave (obsolete)
Etymology
From Middle English deceyven, from Anglo-Norman deceivre, from Latin dēcipiō (“to deceive; beguile; entrap”), from dē- (“from”) + capiō (“to seize”); see captive. Compare conceive, perceive, receive. Displaced native Old English beswīcan.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /dɪˈsiːv/
- Hyphenation: de‧ceive
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -iːv
Verb
deceive (third-person singular simple present deceives, present participle deceiving, simple past and past participle deceived)
- (transitive) To trick or mislead.
- It feels painful to begin seeing clearly, that you’ve been deceived by the very people and institutions you trusted to guide you.
- 1829, Edgar Allan Poe, “Tamerlane”, in Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems:
- I know—for Death, who comes for me
From regions of the blest afar,
Where there is nothing to deceive,
Hath left his iron gate ajar, […]
- 2012 April 26, Tasha Robinson, “Film: Reviews: The Pirates! Band Of Misfits :”, in The Onion AV Club[1]:
- 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 Thesaurus:deceive
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
trick or mislead
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Further reading
- “deceive”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “deceive”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
Middle English
Verb
deceive
- alternative form of deceyven