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  • Verb

deceive

dih-SEEV

Context
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It’s usually not nice or a good idea to deceive or trick people, but sometimes it surely can be satisfying under the right conditions. I also think that it sometimes makes sense to deceive or mislead a person who is very mean to others to teach that person a lesson. For instance, one day I successfully deceived or fooled Bruce the Bully into trading me his shoes for some gum, and I at once threw those shoes into the school lake. I then deceived him or made a false statement that the shoes were a gift to the mermaid in the lake and that soon she would give him one hundred dollars . . . and Bruce believed it!

Quiz: What are you doing if you are deceiving someone?

  • You are telling them the truth.
  • You are determined to make them believe you.
  • You are fooling them in some way.

Memory Hook
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Diamond Ace up Your Sleeve A card shark might deceive you with an ace of diamonds kept up his sleeve, so watch out!

Examples
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  • I'm not really deceiving anyone, he argued to himself. — A Single Shard
  • From the stamp counter she sent forth word that Arnold Green had deceived her. — A Year Down Yonder

Word Ingredients
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de- down, off, from
ceiv take, seize, grasp mentally
e used for spelling and pronunciation

When you are deceived by someone, your “mental grasp” of the truth of something becomes “off,” and hence you are tricked.

Word Theater
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Star Wars Episode 4 A New Hope Luke couldn't do it with his eyes because they deceived him; instead, he had to use his instinct, which worked!
1338

Word Constellation
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Deceive

Word Variants
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deception n the act of tricking someone
deceit n trickery