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