deceit

C1 Topic:People & Society

US /dɪˈsiːt/ See IPA manual

Freq #14198

Meanings

1

noun
Dishonest behaviour that is meant to trick or mislead someone.

He won the contract through lies and deceit.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · dishonest behaviour that is... deception trickery fraud

More deceitfulness deceptiveness dissimulation duplicity fraudulencefraudulencyperfidy underhandedness

Word family

Forms deceits

Derived forms deceiteddeceiteousdeceitfuldeceitlessself-deceit

Related forms deception

Etymology

From Middle English deceyte, from Old French deceite, deçoite, from decevoir (“to deceive”), from Latin dēcipere (“to cheat, mislead”).

*kap- Proto-Indo-European deceyte Middle English deceite Old French decipio Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society

External links

# deceit

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /dɪˈsiːt/
**Frequency rank:** 14198

## Meanings
1. Dishonest behaviour that is meant to trick or mislead someone.

## Examples
- He won the contract through lies and deceit.

## Synonyms
- deceitfulness
- deceptiveness
- dissimulation
- duplicity
- fraudulence
- fraudulency
- perfidy
- trickery
- underhandedness

## Derived Forms
- deceited
- deceiteous
- deceitful
- deceitless
- self-deceit

## Related Forms
- deception

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *kap-
- Root: deceyte
- Root: deceite
- Root: decipio

## Etymology
From Middle English deceyte, from Old French deceite, deçoite, from decevoir (“to deceive”), from Latin dēcipere (“to cheat, mislead”).

## AI Etymology
Deceit is from Middle English deceyte, from Old French deceite, deçoite, from decevoir (“to deceive”), from Latin dēcipere (“to cheat, mislead”). In present-day use, it means dishonest behaviour that is meant to trick or mislead someone. Related forms include deception. Derived formations include deceited, deceiteous, deceitful, deceitless, self-deceit.

## Topics
- People & Society

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