deceptive

adjective

de·cep·tive | \ di-ˈsep-tiv

Definition of deceptive

: tending or having power to cause someone to accept as true or valid what is false or invalid : tending or having power to deceive a deceptive appearance a pitcher with a deceptive windup

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Examples of deceptive in a Sentence

in his deceptive answer about the vehicle's history, the salesman said that the used car had never been hit by another car a mail-order firm indicted for deceptive business practices

Recent Examples on the Web

Facebook promised to get consent from users before sharing their data with third parties, and to avoid making deceptive claims about its privacy practices. — David Meyer, Fortune, "Facebook Shared Your Data With Phone Makers Like Apple. Here's Why This Scandal Could Be Huge," 4 June 2018 The complaint alleged the various companies used false and deceptive sales practices urging consumers to bundle all of their balances into a single loan that would allow consumers to make small monthly payments at low interest rates. — David Lyons, Sun-Sentinel.com, "Luxury cars, waterfront home up for auction from alleged debt relief fraud case," 19 Mar. 2018 The suit also says distributors used deceptive scientific claims to back up this practice despite warnings from the Federal Drug Administration that high-dose opioid usage was increasing overdose and mortality in users. — Maria Clark, NOLA.com, "A Metairie treatment center is suing Walmart, other drug sellers as opioid addiction surges," 7 Feb. 2018 Sometimes, the amount of public shame that appears to be occurring is fundamentally deceptive, bolstered by trolls and bots to amplify fake outrage. — Aja Romano, Vox, "Why the Kevin Hart Oscars backlash is different from other recent public shamings," 5 Jan. 2019 Many of the suits run a hundred pages or more and allege that deceptive opioid marketing schemes continue to this day. — Fred Schulte, Sun-Sentinel.com, "How America got hooked on the deadly drug OxyContin," 18 June 2018 Many of the suits run a hundred pages or more and allege that deceptive opioid marketing schemes continue to this day. — Fred Schulte, Washington Post, "How America Got Hooked On A Deadly Drug," 13 June 2018 The commission relies on administrative law judges who act as hearing officers when people or companies are accused of deceptive schemes involving stocks. — David G. Savage, latimes.com, "Without mentioning Mueller, Trump lawyers urge high court to bolster his power to fire executive officials," 15 Apr. 2018 An agency official said that the regulator was watching out for possible deceptive practices involving the trade of Jeil shares, including inducing investors through false information. — James Rogers, Fox News, "'Treasure-laden' Russian shipwreck sparks controversy," 19 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'deceptive.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.