1
as in deception
the inclination or practice of misleading others through lies or trickery
a crafty child given to frequent dissembling to get what she wants
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in deceit
the pretending of having virtues, principles, or beliefs that one in fact does not have
in the end the preacher's smarmy dissembling is discovered, and he is exposed as a fraud
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in pretending
to present a false appearance of
he dissembled happiness at the news that his old girlfriend was getting married—to someone else
Synonyms & Similar Words
2
as in dissimulating
to take on a false or deceptive appearance
children learn to dissemble at a surprisingly early age
Synonyms & Similar Words
as in lying
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Recent Examples of dissembling
Alison Willmore, Vulture, 25 Sep. 2025
Verb
His inner self is right there and raw at the surface, leaving him incapable of dissembling, which is why Lancaster Dodd likes him so much.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 25 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dissembling
Noun
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Everything can be used as a tool for good and to build, or for bad and destruction and deception.—
Marc Malkin,
Variety,
14 Oct. 2025
-
The question now is whether our ability to detect deception can evolve as fast as the tools that create it.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
13 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
And with that comes deceit and manipulation.—
Lori A Bashian,
FOXNews.com,
12 Oct. 2025
-
The 2022 push for Measure B, which enabled this year’s approval of new city trash policies, was built on deceit about how much the fees would be.—
U T Editorial Board,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
11 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Trapped at sea On both page and screen, Carrie, the woman pretending to be Anne, lures Laura to the ship’s hold and traps her there.—
Maureen Lee Lenker,
Entertainment Weekly,
11 Oct. 2025
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Amina blows her mom a kiss and then flops down in her crib, pretending to be asleep.—
Daniella Gray,
MSNBC Newsweek,
10 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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He was found dead lying face up on his hotel bed with no signs of trauma, according to a Monday report from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office in Florida.—
Kenan Draughorne,
Los Angeles Times,
14 Jan. 2022
Noun
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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
Noun
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Salvat, a real estate agent who has branded himself an anti-establishment outsider, accused his rivals of hypocrisy.—
Verónica Egui Brito,
Miami Herald,
17 Oct. 2025
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Her hero, Vernon, is a fallen Gen-Xer trying to survive it all—and the book is critical of his generation’s hypocrisies.—
Emily Temple,
Literary Hub,
14 Oct. 2025
Verb
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But Vrabel isn’t assuming that will mean anything in New Orleans, even against a middle-of-the-pack Saints run offense.—
Andrew Callahan,
Boston Herald,
11 Oct. 2025
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But that's assuming the success of a predecessor project for this sail concept, called Solar Cruiser.—
Elizabeth Howell,
Space.com,
10 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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At Comedy Central, Colbert rose to prominence playing a slightly exaggerated version of Bill O’Reilly and other unapologetically mendacious Fox News pundits from the George W. Bush years.—
Alan Sepinwall,
Rolling Stone,
18 July 2025
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The true story reveals both how freedom of speech first came to be conceived of as a mechanism for truth, an antidote to falsehood, and the foundation of all liberty—and that, ironically, this new and powerful theory was itself a deliberately mendacious fiction.—
Fara Dabhoiwala,
Harpers Magazine,
4 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Dissembling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dissembling. Accessed 19 Oct. 2025.
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