as in to fool
to cause to believe what is untrue
he went to great lengths to deceive his family about the nature of his new job at the mall
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Recent Examples of deceive
Musk spent part of Monday posting on his social media platform X about his lawsuit against OpenAI, its CEO Sam Altman and president Greg Brockman, and Musk’s claims in the suit that the ChatGPT maker deceived him and betrayed its original mission.
—
Samantha Delouya, CNN Money, 28 Apr. 2026
This intent to deceive constituents has been obvious since February.
—U T Editorial Board, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Apr. 2026
Rashid deceived Padikkal with a perfect googly while Kohli dragged jason Holder’s slower ball onto his stumps.
—ABC News, 24 Apr. 2026
The 11-count indictment alleges that the civil rights nonprofit organization, best known for its work to oppose the Ku Klux Klan, lied to donors about paying confidential informants to infiltrate hate groups and deceived banks about the bank accounts used to make those payments.
—Sarah N. Lynch, CBS News, 23 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for deceive
Samantha Delouya, CNN Money, 28 Apr. 2026
This intent to deceive constituents has been obvious since February.
—U T Editorial Board, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Apr. 2026
Rashid deceived Padikkal with a perfect googly while Kohli dragged jason Holder’s slower ball onto his stumps.
—ABC News, 24 Apr. 2026
The 11-count indictment alleges that the civil rights nonprofit organization, best known for its work to oppose the Ku Klux Klan, lied to donors about paying confidential informants to infiltrate hate groups and deceived banks about the bank accounts used to make those payments.
—Sarah N. Lynch, CBS News, 23 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for deceive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for deceive
Verb
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After killing Minnesota’s first power play, the Avalanche opened the scoring when defenseman Sam Malinski scored his first career playoff goal, fooling Wallstedt with a rising wrist shot.—
Jess Myers,
Twin Cities,
4 May 2026
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Don’t let Will Lee’s nickname fool you.—
Mike Kaye
May 4,
Charlotte Observer,
4 May 2026
Verb
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According to police records, Torres-García died months before DCF was successfully tricked by her mother into doing a video call with a woman who has said she was asked to impersonate the child.—
Laura Tillman,
Hartford Courant,
2 May 2026
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Instead of acting independently, the forces influence one another to amplify the ion’s motion, thereby tricking the system into generating a much stronger, more complex interaction than either force could achieve alone.—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
1 May 2026
Verb
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Musk’s attorney presented previous communications between the billionaire and OpenAI’s leaders, aiming to support allegations that the ChatGPT maker misled him.—
Samantha Delouya,
CNN Money,
29 Apr. 2026
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Despite strict labelling requirements and closer legal cooperation, misleading use of the GOTS certification claims persisted in 2025.—
Angela Velasquez,
Footwear News,
29 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Deceive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/deceive. Accessed 5 May. 2026.
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