Definition of deceptive in English:

adjective

• Giving an appearance or impression different from the true one; misleading.

  ‘he put the question with deceptive casualness’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Bellamy looks small and slight beside his teammate, but never have appearances been so deceptive.’
  • ‘We looked the part, but appearances came be deceptive, as I was soon to discover.’
  • ‘His main asset is his pace and it's deceptive pace as well because you don't realise just how quickly he's travelling.’
  • ‘The question that Mr Justice Brownie had to decide is whether that was misleading or deceptive.’
  • ‘But while it looked easy enough, I soon discovered appearances can be deceptive.’
  • ‘Once again I do not consider that he has any prospect of establishing that the entry in the log is in any way false or deceptive.’
  • ‘But take the time to talk to him and you realise just how deceptive outward appearances can be.’
  • ‘Diagnosing this deceptive and deadly disease is a nightmare for doctors as well as patients.’
  • ‘His solution, as brilliant as it is deceptive, is to reinvent himself as a moderate.’
  • ‘A partial recovery a few days later raised hopes, but turned out to be deceptive.’
  • ‘At present the public have few reliable ways of detecting whether reporting is deceptive or not.’
  • ‘A blogger has caught out the The New York Times in a bit of deceptive reporting.’
  • ‘Others may use deceptive sales tactics and false positives to scare up sales from confused users.’
  • ‘First impressions can more often than not be deceptive, but when it comes to football they tend to be spot on.’
  • ‘Spokesman for Cumbria Constabulary Mike Head warned that lake waters could be dangerously deceptive.’
  • ‘He said the slogans of chief minister are hollow and deceptive and that there is no logic in his arguments.’
  • ‘Today it announced the start of legal action alleging misleading and deceptive conduct.’
  • ‘Appearances are deceptive in these restaurants, which look like dingy pubs from the outside.’
  • ‘Quantitative studies must be done exactly right in every detail or the numbers will be deceptive.’
  • ‘Double-talk and deceptive marketing materials figure large in this enterprise.’

  Synonyms

  misleading, illusory, illusive, illusionary, ambiguous, deceiving, delusive, distorted, specious

  deceitful, duplicitous, fraudulent, counterfeit, sham, bogus, cheating, underhand, cunning, crafty, sly, guileful, scheming, perfidious, treacherous, machiavellian, dissembling, disingenuous, untrustworthy, unscrupulous, unprincipled, dishonest, untruthful, lying, mendacious, insincere, false

  View synonyms