Meaning of deception in English

deception

noun [ C or U ]

/dɪˈsep.ʃən/ us

/dɪˈsep.ʃən/

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the act of hiding the truth, especially to get an advantage:

He was found guilty of obtaining money by deception.

Synonym

deceit

More examplesFewer examples

He said that the government was guilty of deception by exaggerating the figures.
He was arrested on charges of attempted deception when he tried to use a stolen credit card.
Police uncovered a shocking story of lies, deception and blackmail.
It wasn't really magic - just some kind of clever visual deception.
Her husband was a practised liar, capable of extraordinary deception.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Lies, lying & hypocrisy

See more results »

(Definition of deception from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

deception | American Dictionary

deception

noun [ C/U ]

/dɪˈsep·ʃən/

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a statement or action that hides the truth, or the act of hiding the truth:

[ U ] Most advertising involves at least some deception.

deceptive

adjective us

/dɪˈsep·tɪv/

Appearances can be very deceptive.

deceptively

adverb us

/dɪˈsep·tɪv·li/

He makes it sound deceptively simple.

(Definition of deception from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

deception | Business English

deception

noun [ C or U ]

/dɪˈsepʃən/ us

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dishonest or illegal methods that are used to get something, or to make people believe that something is true when it is not:

The couple were accused of obtaining money by deception.

The Insolvency Act makes stringent provision for company fraud and deception.

(Definition of deception from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of deception

deception

We also agree with the authors that what subjects are told about a task can be of central importance, even when deception is not involved.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Given the constant menace of enemies within and without, concealment, deception, and the ability to generate and recognize false beliefs in others would favor survival.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Interestingly, the practice of deception is attacked on external rather than internal grounds in the article.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

As a result we run the risk of exhausting ourselves with issues relating to deception, suspicion, fakery and inauthenticity.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Again and again the telescope had beguiled its untrained users with mirages and deceptions.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The deceptions and rhetorical twists after 1837 produced secondary tumours with no obvious site for a primary.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Like deception, manipulation is a complex notion, heavily dependent on context.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The literal meaning of the term prestidigitator is 'nimble-fingered', but its connotations extend to the idea of illusion, imposture, deception.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The discernment and deployment of deception and indirection required in courtship prepared men for courtly existence as a whole.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

These dialogues are crafted with great subtlety conveying, at the same time, convictions of truth and falsehood, choice and manipulation, decision and deception.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The target article describes some fascinating research that does not go down the well-trodden pathways of the usual studies of deception and false belief.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Here the wrongs are typically vices of concealment, involving deception and manipulation.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

And this is wrong for the very same reasons that deception is wrong : it interferes with rational autonomy.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

But because human representations of agency and intention include representations of false belief and deception, human society is forever under threat of moral defection.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

This bit of deception, even if it was only self-deception, disturbed many of us, and we persuaded him to stop.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

What is the pronunciation of deception?

Translations of deception

in Chinese (Traditional)

欺騙, 欺詐, 隱瞞…

Meaning of deception in English

deception | American Dictionary

deceptive

deceptively

deception | Business English

Examples of deception

Translations of deception

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