deceive

B2 Topic:Actions & Processes

US /dɪˈsiːv/ See IPA manual

Freq #8374

Meanings

1

verb
To make someone believe something that is not true; to trick or mislead.

He deceived his customers by selling them fake watches.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to make someone believe... mislead betray

Word family

Forms deceiveddeceivesdeceivingundeceive

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

deceive the public
to deliberately mislead ordinary people with false information

Verb + noun

Proverbs (1)

See all

Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive

Etymology

From Middle English deceyven, from Anglo-Norman deceivre, from Latin dēcipiō (“to deceive; beguile; entrap”), from dē- (“from”) + capiō (“to seize”); see captive. Compare conceive, perceive, receive. Displaced native Old English beswīcan.

*kap- Proto-Indo-European deceyven Middle English deceivre xno dēcipiō Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Actions & Processes

External links

# deceive

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** /dɪˈsiːv/
**Frequency rank:** 8374

## Meanings
1. To make someone believe something that is not true; to trick or mislead.

## Examples
- He deceived his customers by selling them fake watches.

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *kap-
- Root: deceyven
- Root: deceivre
- Root: dēcipiō

## Etymology
From Middle English deceyven, from Anglo-Norman deceivre, from Latin dēcipiō (“to deceive; beguile; entrap”), from dē- (“from”) + capiō (“to seize”); see captive. Compare conceive, perceive, receive. Displaced native Old English beswīcan.

## AI Etymology
deceive comes from Middle English deceyven, from Anglo-Norman deceivre, from Latin dēcipiō (“to deceive; beguile; entrap”), from dē- (“from”) + capiō (“to seize”); see captive. Compare conceive, perceive, receive. Displaced native Old English beswīcan. The historical chain includes Proto-Indo-European *kap-, Middle English deceyven, xno deceivre, Latin dēcipiō. The current sense is to make someone believe something that is not true; to trick or mislead.

## Topics
- Actions & Processes

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