as in misleading
tending or having power to deceive
the deceiving nature of most flat maps of the globe causes some people to believe erroneously that Greenland is actually bigger than South America
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in tricking
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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of deceiving
Stewart Mandel, New York Times, 27 Aug. 2025
Bryan Washington, New Yorker, 7 Sep. 2025
The lexicon of the wine world can be deceiving.
—Tom Mullen, Forbes.com, 25 Aug. 2025
Some of the stranger and more alarming AI behaviors, such as blackmailing or deceiving users, have been extensively studied by these companies as a first step toward mitigating possible harms.
—Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 21 Aug. 2025
The team’s 19-point halftime lead was deceiving because of Indiana’s unusually poor shooting.
—Emily Adams, Hartford Courant, 19 Aug. 2025
But the numbers are deceiving, the study said, because so many cases go unreported.
—Noelle Wiehe, The Orlando Sentinel, 17 Aug. 2025
Nestor Cortes’ highlights can be deceiving.
—Jeff Sanders, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Aug. 2025
But appearances can be deceiving because there's a lot of bright side here.
—Shubham Yewale, PC Magazine, 14 Aug. 2025
Your eyes aren’t deceiving you.
—Mike Stunson, Kansas City Star, 14 Aug. 2025
Adjective
Few things in life are more deceiving than a Week 1 game, especially those played in a rainstorm on the other side of an ocean.
—Stewart Mandel, New York Times, 27 Aug. 2025
Verb
Looks can be deceiving, Cali said.
—Bryan Washington, New Yorker, 7 Sep. 2025
The lexicon of the wine world can be deceiving.
—Tom Mullen, Forbes.com, 25 Aug. 2025
Some of the stranger and more alarming AI behaviors, such as blackmailing or deceiving users, have been extensively studied by these companies as a first step toward mitigating possible harms.
—Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 21 Aug. 2025
The team’s 19-point halftime lead was deceiving because of Indiana’s unusually poor shooting.
—Emily Adams, Hartford Courant, 19 Aug. 2025
But the numbers are deceiving, the study said, because so many cases go unreported.
—Noelle Wiehe, The Orlando Sentinel, 17 Aug. 2025
Nestor Cortes’ highlights can be deceiving.
—Jeff Sanders, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Aug. 2025
But appearances can be deceiving because there's a lot of bright side here.
—Shubham Yewale, PC Magazine, 14 Aug. 2025
Your eyes aren’t deceiving you.
—Mike Stunson, Kansas City Star, 14 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for deceiving
Adjective
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Overpayments can occur for many reasons, the agency said, including incorrect wage reporting, failure to meet work requirements or providing false or misleading information.—
Adrienne Roberts,
Freep.com,
9 Sep. 2025
-
In court, government lawyers frequently made false or misleading claims about the men’s whereabouts.—
Jonathan Blitzer,
New Yorker,
8 Sep. 2025
Verb
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What does work is tricking her into pressing a button that knocks her out.—
Keith Phipps,
Vulture,
4 Sep. 2025
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While the Phantom Hacker attack is designed specifically to drain your bank accounts, there are plenty of variants relying on tricking you into installing dangerous software that either gives an attacker a view of your device or hijacks it completely.—
Zak Doffman,
Forbes.com,
30 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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There will be a temptation because of his height to draw parallels with Moyes’ use of Marouane Fellaini and Soucek, two key pillars of his Everton and West Ham sides, but where Rohl is concerned, his size can be deceptive.—
Patrick Boyland,
New York Times,
4 Sep. 2025
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In 2024, CarShield paid $10 million to settle allegations by the Federal Trade Commission that its ads were deceptive and that customers discovered many repairs were not covered.—
Brian Sloan,
CNBC,
4 Sep. 2025
Verb
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And tech companies must do far more in the design of AI systems to prevent people fooling themselves into thinking these systems are conscious beings.—
Jeremy Kahn,
Fortune,
26 Aug. 2025
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Deepfakes are getting better at fooling people and will continue to be a rising threat.—
Gene Marks,
Forbes.com,
24 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Representatives for James have called the fraud claims made against her politically motivated and false.—
Robert Faturechi,
ProPublica,
6 Sep. 2025
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On the next play, Taylor was called for a false-start penalty.—
Pete Grathoff,
Kansas City Star,
6 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Deceiving.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/deceiving. Accessed 11 Sep. 2025.
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