Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Given to cheating or deceiving.
  • adjective Deliberately misleading; deceptive. synonym: dishonest.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Full of deceit; tending to mislead, deceive, or insnare; tricky; fraudulent; cheating.
  • Synonyms Deceptive, Deceitful, etc. (see deceptive), delusive, fallacious, insincere, hypocritical, false, hollow.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Full of, or characterized by, deceit; serving to mislead or insnare; trickish; fraudulent; cheating; insincere.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective deliberately misleading or cheating
  • adjective deceptive in multiple ways

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective marked by deliberate deceptiveness especially by pretending one set of feelings and acting under the influence of another
  • adjective intended to deceive

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

deceit +‎ -ful

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Examples

  • The counselor to the president's accusing the network of what it calls deceitful editing, twisting the president's words.

    CNN Transcript May 20, 2008 2008

  • And then it was that we told the "innocent child" (that's what we call the deceitful cat) everything.

    A Young Girl's Diary 1923

  • And then it was that we told the "innocent child" (that's what we call the deceitful cat) everything.

    A Young Girl's Diary Anonymous 1897

  • For CBS to run an ad during a family event from an organization so hateful and deceitful is shameful.

    Think Progress » ThinkFast: January 27, 2010 2010

  • Amazingly the train halted along the dark countryside, from time to time indulging in short, deceitful movements backward or forward, and whistling harsh paeans into the high October night.

    The Beautiful and Damned 2003

  • And while it's hard to hear yourself called deceitful and manipulative, I remember Ben Franklin's admonition that our critics are our friends, for they do show us our faults.

    Statement By The President ITY National Archives 1998

  • Amazingly the train halted along the dark countryside, from time to time indulging in short, deceitful movements backward or forward, and whistling harsh paeans into the high October night.

    The Beautiful and Damned 1918

  • "If you call her deceitful, what are you?" he sputtered.

    Set in Silver 1901

  • I must weave a veil of dazzling falsehood to hide my grief from vulgar eyes, smoothe my brow, and paint my lips in deceitful smiles -- even in solitude I dare not think how lost I am, lest I become insane and rave.

    I.9 1826

  • And while it's hard to hear yourself called deceitful and manipulative, I remember Ben Franklin's admonition that our critics are our friends, for they do show us our faults.

    ZUG.com > ZUG Live Neophyte 2010

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