Need another word that means the same as “deceptive”? Find 35 synonyms and 30 related words for “deceptive” in this overview.
The synonyms of “Deceptive” are: delusory, misleading, illusory, illusive, illusionary, ambiguous, delusive, distorted, specious, deceitful, duplicitous, fraudulent, counterfeit, sham, bogus, cheating, underhand, cunning, crafty, sly, guileful, scheming, perfidious, treacherous, machiavellian, disingenuous, untrustworthy, unscrupulous, unprincipled, dishonest, untruthful, lying, mendacious, insincere, false
According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, “deceptive” as an adjective can have the following definitions:
| ambiguous | Not clear or decided. The election result was ambiguous. |
| bogus | Fraudulent; having a misleading appearance. A bogus insurance claim. |
| cheating | Not faithful to a spouse or lover. |
| counterfeit | Pretended; sham. Counterfeit emotion. |
| crafty | Skilled at the making of decorative objects and other things by hand. They are looking for crafty people to join the group to make ornaments. |
| cunning | Showing inventiveness and skill. The cunning maneuvers leading to his success. |
| deceitful | Intended to deceive – S.T.Coleridge. Such an act would have been deceitful and irresponsible. |
| delusive | Giving a false or misleading impression. Delusive expectations. |
| delusory | Causing one to believe what is not true or fail to believe what is true. A delusory pleasure. |
| dishonest | Intended to mislead or cheat. He was a dishonest hypocrite prepared to exploit his family. |
| disingenuous | Not straightforward or candid; giving a false appearance of frankness. A disingenuous excuse. |
| distorted | Affected by electrical distortion. His poor distorted limbs. |
| duplicitous | Marked by deliberate deceptiveness especially by pretending one set of feelings and acting under the influence of another. A duplicitous philanderer. |
| false | Used in names of plants animals and gems that superficially resemble the thing properly so called e g false oat. A false assumption. |
| fraudulent | Obtained, done by, or involving deception, especially criminal deception. Fraudulent share dealing. |
| guileful | Marked by skill in deception. A supremely guileful and deceptive politician. |
| illusionary | Marked by or producing illusion. Illusionary stage effects. |
| illusive | Deceptive; illusory. An illusive haven. |
| illusory | Based on illusion; not real. Secret activities offer presidents the alluring but often illusory promise that they can achieve foreign policy goals without the bothersome debate and open decision that are staples of democracy. |
| insincere | Lacking sincerity. She flashed him an insincere smile. |
| lying | Not telling the truth. He s a lying cheating snake in the grass. |
| machiavellian | Of or relating to Machiavelli or the principles of conduct he recommended. |
| mendacious | Given to lying. A mendacious child. |
| misleading | Giving the wrong idea or impression. Statistics can be presented in ways that are misleading. |
| perfidious | Deceitful and untrustworthy. The perfidious Judas. |
| scheming | Given to or involved in making secret and underhand plans. A scheming wife. |
| sham | Bogus; false. Sham modesty. |
| sly | Marked by skill in deception. A sly sip of water. |
| specious | Superficially plausible, but actually wrong. A specious argument. |
| treacherous | Tending to betray especially having a treacherous character as attributed to the Carthaginians by the Romans. Memory is particularly treacherous. |
| underhand | With the palm of the hand upward or outward. Underhand dealings. |
| unprincipled | Lacking principles or moral scruples. An unprincipled womanizer. |
| unscrupulous | Having or showing no moral principles; not honest or fair. Unscrupulous landlords might be tempted to harass existing tenants. |
| untrustworthy | Not able to be relied on as honest or truthful. These untrustworthy impressions were instinctive. |
| untruthful | Saying or consisting of something that is false or incorrect. An untruthful person. |
| beguile | Trick (someone) into doing something. They were beguiled into signing a peace treaty. |
| cheat | An act of cheating a fraud or deception. I wish someone had told me my partner was cheating on me. |
| cheating | Not faithful to a spouse or lover. |
| chicanery | The use of deception or subterfuge to achieve one’s purpose. Storylines packed with political chicanery. |
| cozen | Obtain by deception. He cozened the money out of the old man. |
| cunning | Attractive or quaint. A cunning look came into his eyes. |
| deceit | The quality of being fraudulent. A series of lies and deceits. |
| deceitful | Intended to deceive. Deceitful advertising. |
| deceive | Be false to; be dishonest with. I didn t intend to deceive people into thinking it was French champagne. |
| deception | A thing that deceives. A range of elaborate deceptions. |
| delusive | Giving a false or misleading impression. Delusive expectations. |
| dishonest | Behaving or prone to behave in an untrustworthy, deceitful, or insincere way. Dishonest politicians. |
| dissimulation | Concealment of one’s thoughts, feelings, or character; pretence. An attempt at dissimulation. |
| fraud | A person who makes deceitful pretenses. Prosecutions for social security frauds. |
| fraudulence | Something intended to deceive; deliberate trickery intended to gain an advantage. |
| fraudulent | Obtained, done by, or involving deception, especially criminal deception. Fraudulent psychics. |
| hoax | Subject to a playful hoax or joke. A hoax 999 call. |
| humbug | Pretentious or silly talk or writing. His comments are sheer humbug. |
| imposture | Pretending to be another person. I discovered the imposture as soon as her doppelganger arrived. |
| inducement | Act of bringing about a desired result. Inducement of sleep. |
| lie | The way direction or position in which something lies. Putting homeless families into private houses that would otherwise lie empty. |
| lure | Something used to lure fish or other animals into danger so they can be trapped or killed. The lure of the exotic East. |
| motivator | A positive motivational influence. Music can be a great exercise motivator. |
| mountebank | A person who sold patent medicines in public places. |
| phony | A person who professes beliefs and opinions that he or she does not hold in order to conceal his or her real feelings or motives. |
| scam | A dishonest scheme; a fraud. A guy that scams old pensioners out of their savings. |
| swindle | Obtain (money) fraudulently. He was said to have swindled 62 5 million from the state owned cement industry. |
| treacherous | Tending to betray especially having a treacherous character as attributed to the Carthaginians by the Romans. Treacherous intrigues. |
| trickery | Verbal misrepresentation intended to take advantage of you in some way. The dealer resorted to trickery. |
| untruth | A lie or false statement (often used euphemistically. They go off and tell untruths about organizations for which they worked. |
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