deceptive
/dɪˈsɛptɪv
/adjective
Giving an appearance or impression different from the true one; misleading: he put the question with deceptive casualness...
- But while it looked easy enough, I soon discovered appearances can be deceptive.
- Today it announced the start of legal action alleging misleading and deceptive conduct.
- Bellamy looks small and slight beside his teammate, but never have appearances been so deceptive.
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
informal crooked, sharp, shady, slippery, sneaky, tricky, foxy
British informal bent
South African informal slim
archaic subtle, hollow-hearted
rare false-hearted, double-faced, truthless, Punic
Derivatives
deceptiveness
/ noun ...- Through Ballard's books, you can trace the development of his thoughts on the deceptiveness of appearances.
- The mere hint of evasion or deceptiveness under oath was just too much for him to handle.
- Understandably, Miranda is angry with her parents for their implicit deceptiveness and does not forgive them easily.