deceit

English

Alternative forms

• deceipt (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French deceite, deçoite, from decevoir (“to deceive”), from Latin dēcipere (“to cheat, mislead”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɪˈsiːt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːt

Noun

deceit (plural deceits)

1. An act or practice intended to deceive; a trick.

   The whole conversation was merely a deceit.

2. 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.

3. (uncountable) The state of being deceitful or deceptive.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Psalms 10:7:

     His mouth is full of curſing, and deceit, and fraud : vnder his tongue is miſchiefe and vanitie.

4. (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.

Synonyms

• (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 terms

• deceitful

Translations

act or behavior intended to deceive

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: измама (bg) f (izmama), лъжа (bg) f (lǎža)
• Faroese: svik n
• Finnish: petosyritys, petoksen yritys, petos (fi), huiputus (fi), huijaus (fi), harhautus (fi), vilppi (fi)
• French: tromperie (fr) f, ruse (fr) f
• Galician: engano (gl) m
• German: Betrügerei (de) f
• Greek: απάτη (el) f (apáti)

  Ancient: ἀπάτη f (apátē), δόλωμα n (dólōma)

• Gujarati: please add this translation if you can
• Hebrew: רמאות‎ f (rama'üt)
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: megtévesztés (hu)
• Irish: meang f

• Italian: falsità (it) f, mendacità f, inganno (it) m, trucco (it) m
• Kabuverdianu: fantuxada
• Khmer: ការបោកប្រាស់ (kaa baok prah)
• Korean: 속임수 (ko) (sogimsu), 사기 (ko) (sagi)
• Latin: fraus f, dolus m
• Oriya: ତଞ୍ଚକତା (or) (tôñcôkôta)
• Persian: فریب‎ (fa) (farib), گول‎ (fa) (gul)
• Polish: oszustwo (pl) n, podstęp (pl) m
• Portuguese: velhacaria (pt) f, fraude (pt) f
• Russian: обма́н (ru) m (obmán)
• Slovak: podvod m
• Spanish: bellaquería (es) f, fraude (es) m, engaño (es) m, embeleco (es)
• Telugu: దగా (te) (dagā), మోసము (te) (mōsamu)

act or fact of deceiving

• Finnish: huijaus (fi)
• French: tromperie (fr) f
• German: Täuschung (de) f
• Greek: απάτη (el) f (apáti)

  Ancient: ἀπάτη f (apátē)

• Hungarian: megtévesztés (hu)

• Irish: meang f
• Korean: 속임수 (ko) (sogimsu)
• Portuguese: logro (pt) m
• Russian: обма́н (ru) m (obmán)
• Spanish: fraude (es) m, engaño (es) m
• Telugu: మోసగించుట (mōsagiñcuṭa)

state of being deceptive

• Finnish: vilpillisyys
• German: Falschheit (de) f
• Greek: απάτη (el) f (apáti)
• Hungarian: megtévesztő (hu)

• Kabuverdianu: fantuxada
• Korean: 기만 (ko) (giman)
• Russian: обма́нчивость (ru) f (obmánčivostʹ), лжи́вость (ru) f (lžívostʹ)

legal: fraudulent representation of a material fact

• Finnish: petos (fi)
• French: fraude (fr) f

• Russian: обма́н (ru) m (obmán)
• Spanish: fraude (es) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: ^{(please verify)} tromperie (fr)
• German: ^{(please verify)} Täuschung (de) f, ^{(please verify)} Betrug (de) m

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} inganno (it), ^{(please verify)} frode (it)
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} engaño (es)