deceit
EnglishEdit
Alternative formsEdit
- deceipt (obsolete)
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English deceyte, from Old French deceite, deçoite, from decevoir (“to deceive”), from Latin dēcipere (“to cheat, mislead”).
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
deceit (plural deceits)
- An act or practice intended to deceive; a trick.
- The whole conversation was merely a deceit.
- An act of deceiving someone.
- 1998, Mike Dixon-Kennedy, Encyclopedia of Greco-Roman Mythology, page 125:
- Upon his return he killed Eriphyle for her vanity and deceit of him and his father.
- (uncountable) The state of being deceitful or deceptive.
- 1603 (date written), [Francis] Bacon, “Valerius Terminus: Of the Interpretation of Nature; with the Annotations of Hermes Stella. Chapter XI. The Chapter Immediately Following the Inventary; Being the 11th in Order, a Part thereof.”, in Robert Stephens, compiler; [John Lockyer], editor, Letters and Remains of the Lord Chancellor Bacon, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, published 1734, OCLC 1264954677, page 411:
- [T]he tvvo commended rules by him [Aristotle] ſet down, vvhereby the axioms of Sciences are precepted to be made convertible, and vvhich the latter men have not vvithout elegancy ſurnamed; the one the rule of truth, becauſe it preventeth deceipt; the other the rule of prudence, becauſe it freeth election, are the ſame thing in ſpeculation and affirmation, vvhich vve novv obſerve.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Psalms 10:7:
- His mouth is full of curſing, and deceit, and fraud : vnder his tongue is miſchiefe and vanitie.
- (law) The tort or fraudulent representation of a material fact made with knowledge of its falsity, or recklessly, or without reasonable grounds for believing its truth and with intent to induce reliance on it; the plaintiff justifiably relies on the deception, to his injury.
SynonymsEdit
- (act or behavior intended to deceive): trick, fraud
- (act of deceiving): deception, trickery
- (state of being deceptive): underhandedness, deceptiveness, deceitfulness, dissimulation, fraudulence, trickery
- See also Thesaurus:deception
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
act or behavior intended to deceive
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act or fact of deceiving
state of being deceptive
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legal: fraudulent representation of a material fact
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