deceive

deceive, mislead, delude, beguile, betray, double-crossmean to lead astray or into evil or to frustrate by under- handedness or craft.

A person or thing deceives one by leading one to take something false as true, something nonexistent as real, something counterfeit as genuine, something injurious as helpful: the term may imply no more than a chance or inadvertent confusing or it may suggest a deliberate ensnaring or entrapping for the agent's own and often evil ends

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deceived by a chance resemblance into the belief that he had seen his dead sister's spirit

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"No woman's safe with him." "Ah, but he hasn't deceived me, Mrs. Berry. He has not pretended he was good"— Meredith

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a person who first subconsciously deceives himself and then imagines that he is being virtuous and truthful— Russell

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A person or thing misleads one by causing one to follow a wrong path, way, or course or to fall into error

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misled by a confusing traffic signal

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we never find them misled into the conception that such gifts are an end in themselves— Dickinson

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nor is there any safeguard against the nations being misled and deceived by their governments into sanctioning another great war— Inge

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Thrasyllus never told lies but he loved misleading people—Graves

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A person or thing deludes one by deceiving or misleading one so completely as to make one a fool, a dupe, or so befuddled as to be incapable of distinguishing the false from the true

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I began to wonder whether I, like the spider that chased the shadow, had been deluded, and had seemed to hear a sound that was not a sound— Hudson

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did he, did all the people who said they didn't mind things, know that they really did? Or were they indeed deluded!—Rose Macaulay

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A person or, less often, a thing, beguiles one by using such subtle and usually agreeable or alluring devices as to mislead, deceive, or delude one

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the male propensity to be beguiled— Mary Austin

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I recalled some of the Indian beliefs, especially that of the . . . man-devouring monster who is said to beguile his victims into the dark forest by mimicking the human voice— Hudson

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marsh- lights to beguile mankind from tangible goods and immediate fruitions— Mumford

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A person or thing betrays one by using deception or treachery to deliver one into the hands of an enemy or put one in a dangerous or false position

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verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me— Mt 26:21

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knowing that nature never did betray the heart that loved her— Wordsworth

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so, times past all number deceived by false shows, deceiving we cumber the road of our foes, for this is our virtue: to track and betray— Kipling

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A person double-crosses another and usually a friend, partner, or accomplice by deceiving or betraying him, especially by double-dealing or duplicity

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said he had been double-crossed by his partner

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De Valera charged that his own trusted negotiators had double-crossed him by signing an agreement to take the detested oath of loyalty to the British king— Blanshard

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Analogous words: *cheat, cozen, defraud, overreach: outwit, circumvent (see FRUSTRATE): *dupe, gull, befool, trick, hoax, hoodwink, bamboozle

Antonyms: undeceive: enlighten