deceit

Plural: deceits

Noun

• The act of deceiving or misleading someone.
• the quality of being fraudulent
• a misleading falsehood
• the act of deceiving
• An act or practice intended to deceive; a trick.
• An act of deceiving someone.
• The state of being deceitful or deceptive.
• The tort or fraudulent representation of a material fact made with knowledge of its falsity, or recklessly, or without reasonable grounds for believing its truth and with intent to induce reliance on it; the plaintiff justifiably relies on the deception, to his injury.

Examples

• His opponent’s DECEITful bluff about having no vowels did not fool her.
• The whole conversation was merely a deceit.

Synonyms

deception, dissembling, dissimulation, fraudulence, misrepresentation, deceitfulness, deceptiveness, fraud, trick, trickery, underhandedness