1
as in deception
the inclination or practice of misleading others through lies or trickery
a rise to power that was marked by treachery and deceit
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in deceitfulness
the tendency to tell lies
she's completely free of deceit
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of deceit
But those movies, in different ways, were about trickery and deceit, about drawing the audience into a head game of perception.
—
Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 14 May 2026
The Silicon Valley case remains the center of attention, focused on a 2024 lawsuit filed by Elon Musk that accuses OpenAI of alleged deceit in taking millions from the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX while operating as a nonprofit, only to later pivot into a for-profit enterprise.
—John Kell, Fortune, 13 May 2026
There's everything from resentment to jealousy, favouritism, and deceit swirling around in a boiling-hot cauldron where fair is foul and foul is fair.
—Sergio Pereira, Space.com, 6 May 2026
There was no attorney named Susan Millan associated with Catholic Charities, and the deceit was just one example of hundreds that the group has become aware of when desperate immigrants eventually reach the real organization.
—Naisha Roy, ProPublica, 29 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for deceit
Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 14 May 2026
The Silicon Valley case remains the center of attention, focused on a 2024 lawsuit filed by Elon Musk that accuses OpenAI of alleged deceit in taking millions from the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX while operating as a nonprofit, only to later pivot into a for-profit enterprise.
—John Kell, Fortune, 13 May 2026
There's everything from resentment to jealousy, favouritism, and deceit swirling around in a boiling-hot cauldron where fair is foul and foul is fair.
—Sergio Pereira, Space.com, 6 May 2026
There was no attorney named Susan Millan associated with Catholic Charities, and the deceit was just one example of hundreds that the group has become aware of when desperate immigrants eventually reach the real organization.
—Naisha Roy, ProPublica, 29 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for deceit
Recent Examples of Synonyms for deceit
Noun
-
But the dramatic vision-boosting reputation carrots have carried for decades traces back to a wartime deception, not science.—
Samantha Agate,
Sacbee.com,
15 June 2026
-
The deception group reported the steepest drop in symptoms.—
Samantha Agate,
Kansas City Star,
13 June 2026
Noun
-
Antisocial personality includes a persistent pattern of traits such as callousness, lack of concern, deceitfulness, and irresponsibility, Ryan said.—
Harriet Ramos,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
29 Apr. 2026
-
Perfidy — from the French perfidie via the Latin perfidia — means deceitfulness, treachery or a breach of faith or promise.—
Harmeet Kaur,
CNN Money,
21 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Of course, the retort is that this would be irritating and exasperating to be continually deluged with alerts about AI deceptiveness.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
24 Aug. 2025
-
Beyond the deceptiveness of the narrow material view, spiritual light and hope are always present to be found and felt.—
Sue Brightman,
Christian Science Monitor,
3 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
Among the grounds listed are fraud, embezzlement, theft, misappropriation of district resources, breach of fiduciary duty, neglect of duties, criminal convictions, violations of law, policy violations, dishonesty, insubordination and failure to perform contractual obligations.—
Nora O'Neill,
Charlotte Observer,
18 June 2026
-
Every college and university has rules against plagiarism and other forms of intellectual dishonesty.—
Austin Sarat,
The Conversation,
17 June 2026
Noun
-
Rollins said federal authorities have made 900 arrests for SNAP fraud during the last year and recovered $132 million in restitution.—
Bart Jansen,
USA Today,
19 June 2026
-
The future involves building robust connectors between merchant systems and UCP, and developing new solutions for agent identity and fraud detection.—
Josipa Majic Predin,
Forbes.com,
19 June 2026
Noun
-
Other research on high school cheating found in 2020 that 64% of 70,000 high school students across the country admitted to cheating on a test, and 58% admitted to plagiarism.—
Austin Sarat,
The Conversation,
17 June 2026
-
Whatever romance Rodrigo is tracing the history of apparently did not end in cheating or any other horrible behavior that would lead her back toward the kind of recriminatory rockers that were among the previous albums’ highlights.—
Chris Willman,
Variety,
12 June 2026
Noun
-
For everyone else, including this freelance journalist without an expense account, the approach is more like a military-level obstacle course designed to test your cunning and will.—
Jada Yuan,
HollywoodReporter,
22 May 2026
-
The quality that drew Kurosawa to Yonezawa’s novel in the first place is not valor or cunning but something considerably less heroic.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
19 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Deceit.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/deceit. Accessed 20 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
