Synonyms for deceptive
- adjective
Most common
All synonyms
Adjective
1. Misleading
misleading, deceitful, fraudulent, dishonest, fallacious, false, mendacious, delusive, illusory, specious, treacherous, illusive, slippery, unreal, corrupted, colorable US, colourable UK, sophistical, delusory, perfidious
Other
beguiling, sneaking, deceptious dated
Definitions
- adj. 1
Likely or attempting to deceive.
Appearances can be deceptive.
Related words
- Phrases
- deceptive advertising
Example sentences
- misleading There are many misleading news articles nowadays.
- fraudulent The dictator took power in a fraudulent election.
- dishonest At least he's honest about the fact he's dishonest.
- deceitful I learned the hard way that silence can be deceitful.
- sneaking Donald saw Walid sneaking out with Jessica's cake.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| deceptive | steady | |
| misleading | steady | |
| fraudulent | steady | |
| dishonest | steady | |
| deceitful | rising | |
| sneaking | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 5 letters
- false1
- 6 letters
- unreal2
- 8 letters
- slippery3, sneaking2, illusory4, specious2, illusive3, delusive, delusory
- 9 letters
- dishonest3, corrupted3, deceitful3, beguiling3, colorable
- 10 letters
- misleading3, fraudulent3, fallacious3, mendacious3, perfidious, colourable, deceptious
- 11 letters
- treacherous3, sophistical
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (unreal2 = 2 syllables).