DECEPTION • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Deception

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/dɪsˈɛpʃən/ Listen

noun

Deception n.

The act of deceiving or misleading.

The state of being deceived or misled. "There is one thing relating either to the action or enjoyments of man in which he is not liable to deception."

That which deceives or is intended to deceive; false representation; artifice; cheat; fraud. "There was of course room for vast deception."

Synonyms: Deception, Deceit, Fraud, Imposition. Deception usually refers to the act, and deceit to the habit of the mind; hence we speak of a person as skilled in deception and addicted to deceit. The practice of deceit springs altogether from design, and that of the worst kind; but a deception does not always imply aim and intention. It may be undesigned or accidental. An imposition is an act of deception practiced upon some one to his annoyance or injury; a fraud implies the use of stratagem, with a view to some unlawful gain or advantage.

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Etymology of 'Deception'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Deception" Quotes from Famous Books

... would say from a sun, the distant fires of which hold us in suspense fascinated, lifted high above our life. It endures only a moment and then one falls again. Art is never more than a passing forgetfulness of the actual, the real. Pierre was afraid and fully expected the same deception.—But this time the radiation came from within. Nothing that belongs to life was forgot. But everything fell into harmony. His recollections, his new thoughts. Even to the familiar objects about him: the books and papers in his chamber ...

— Pierre and Luce • Romain Rolland

... Darling Husband:—This life of deception is killing me. I want to do all in my power to help our cause, but I am each day more nervous, and liable to detection. The Yankee officers are frequently at our house, and I have to treat them kindly, but it is all I can do to keep from crying, and I am expected to laugh. I fear that I ...

— How Private George W. Peck Put Down The Rebellion - or, The Funny Experiences of a Raw Recruit - 1887 • George W. Peck

... rebelled. He would not have it so; he would not believe—and yet he was convinced against his own logic. He had tried to cheat the arithmetic when he had tried to make her extortion money an honestly made acquisition. And she had refused to be a party to the flimsy self-deception. ...

— Out of the Ashes • Ethel Watts Mumford

... Philosopher says (De Long. et Brev. Vitae ii) that "forgetfulness and deception are the corruption of science." Moreover, by sinning a man loses a habit of virtue: and again, virtues are engendered and corrupted by contrary acts (Ethic. ...

— Summa Theologica, Part I-II (Pars Prima Secundae) - From the Complete American Edition • Saint Thomas Aquinas

... whether to ask her to marry me under false colors or to tell her the whole truth. My sense of what was exigent made me feel there was no necessity of saying anything; but my inborn sense of honor rebelled at even indirect deception in this case. But however much I moralized on the question, I found it more and more difficult to reach the point of confession. The dread that I might lose her took possession of me each time I sought to speak, ...

— The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man • James Weldon Johnson

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