self-deceive

verb

self-de·​ceive ˌself-di-ˈsēv 

self-deceived; self-deceiving; self-deceives

intransitive verb

: to deceive oneself especially concerning oneself

Faced with the choice between attributing their performance to the presence of the answers or their own ability, people chose to self-deceive, convincing themselves that their performance was due not to the answers but to themselves.

—Zoë Chance et al.

self-deceived adjective

One of her [Jane Austen's] novels, Emma, is narrated so much through the consciousness of its self-deceived heroine that the reader too keeps being deceived.

—John Mullan

We are all invited … to change or to retrench and double down on the self-deceived notion that we have things all figured out.

—Tim Suttle

self-deceiving adjective

self-deceiving people/beliefs

self-deceiver noun

plural self-deceivers

Self-deceivers are people who don't see their own values, motives and beliefs clearly.

—Robert Lynch

Examples of self-deceive in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But even an evolutionary leap in brainpower wouldn’t change the fact that humans are complex, emotional, self-deceiving, unreliable narrators. —Matt Zoller Seitz, Vulture, 30 June 2025

There is something self-deceiving about Israel’s determination to pursue only revenge against Hamas rather than peace with the Palestinians. —Raja Shehadeh, The New York Review of Books, 10 Oct. 2023

The fact that everybody is a liar, the fact that people are hopelessly self-deceived about their own actions and intentions doesn’t mean that there isn’t truth. —David Marchese David Marchese Photograph By Mamadi Doumbouya, New York Times, 8 Oct. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1617, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for self-deceive

• disbelieve
• interweave
• undeceive
• achieve
• believe
• conceive
• deceive
• naive
• perceive
• receive
• relieve
• reprieve