deluding 1 of 2

adjective

as in misleading
tending or having power to deceive the deluding appearance of the surface of the river, which is actually quite fast-moving

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

deluding

2 of 2

verb

present participle of delude
as in fooling
to cause to believe what is untrue we deluded ourselves into thinking that the ice cream wouldn't affect our diet

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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 deluding
Verb
People are deluding themselves with the one-size-fits-all line of thinking. — Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 13 July 2026 This might not be a circumstance where the AI would shine in aiding the mental health of the user (or, on the other side of the coin, deluding them and entrapping them). — Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 31 May 2026 Or deluding themselves along with him. — Grant Brisbee, New York Times, 1 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for deluding
  1. misleading
  2. fooling
  3. deceptive
  4. tricking
  5. false
  6. deceiving
Adjective
  • An analyzer may be accurate in the laboratory but slow or misleading in the field.
    — Gregory Shahnovsky, Forbes.com, 7 Aug. 2026
  • The title and summary of a Florida property tax cut proposal to be placed on the November ballot contain political rhetoric and are misleading, and must be redrafted, a judge has ruled.
    — South Florida Sun Sentinel, Sun Sentinel, 5 Aug. 2026
Definition of misleading
Verb
  • Throughout all the commotion, Romelu Lukaku acted as decoy, holding on to the ball, fooling everyone, including the TV producer, who pulled up a graphic showing his recent penalty record.
    — Geir Jordet, New York Times, 15 July 2026
  • Speaking on Harvard Business School’s The Founder Mindset podcast, hosted by senior lecturer and serial entrepreneur Reza Satchu, the Shark Tank investor argued that anyone trying to balance a young company against the rest of their life is fooling themselves.
    — Sydney Lake, Fortune, 17 June 2026
Definition of fooling
Adjective
  • The county attorney presented a plan to sue several big pharma companies for the deceptive marketing practices that triggered the opioid epidemic, following the pattern established by lawsuits filed against tobacco companies starting in the 1990s.
    — Guthrie Scrimgeour, Rolling Stone, 2 Aug. 2026
  • Outside companies can test systems for cybersecurity risks, deceptive behavior, privacy failures, bias and dangerous capabilities.
    — Gerui Wang, Forbes.com, 1 Aug. 2026
Definition of deceptive
Verb
  • Football is all about engaño (trickery) — looking one way and passing the other, feinting to go left and swiftly moving right, manipulating the opposition and tricking them to open up those little spaces.
    — Xavi, New York Times, 19 July 2026
  • What’s far more eloquent is the episode with the witch Circe (a terrific Samantha Morton), whose habit of tricking and transforming men into animals is rendered in evocatively physical, body-horror-esque imagery.
    — Alison Willmore, Vulture, 15 July 2026
Definition of tricking
Adjective
  • There are factors that could tilt in favor of Fauci’s strategy, including the fact that his pardon would not protect him from potential state prosecutions or from a federal prosecution related to any testimony that investigators deemed false.
    — Eric Tucker, Chicago Tribune, 5 Aug. 2026
  • Yet, the suit added, county officials later acknowledged that was false; no one from DCFS saw Sophia in person after that September 2021 report.
    — Jakob Rodgers, Mercury News, 5 Aug. 2026
Definition of false
Verb
  • Paul has long accused Fauci of deceiving Americans about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
    — Mary Kekatos, ABC News, 29 July 2026
  • The ensuing investigation ultimately revealed that Angela had framed Hadley and uncovered evidence of her long history of deceiving people to gain sympathy.
    — Britt Hayes, Entertainment Weekly, 23 July 2026
Definition of deceiving

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Cite this Entry

“Deluding.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/deluding. Accessed 11 Aug. 2026.

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