DECEIVING Synonyms: 169 Similar and Opposite Words

deceiving 1 of 2

adjective

as in misleading

tending or having power to deceive the deceiving nature of most flat maps of the globe causes some people to believe erroneously that Greenland is actually bigger than South America

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

deceiving

2 of 2

verb

present participle of deceive

as in tricking

to cause to believe what is untrue he went to great lengths to deceive his family about the nature of his new job at the mall

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of deceiving

Adjective

In our experience, these mid-sized sets can be very deceiving. — Fran Ruiz, Space.com, 19 Dec. 2025 Few things in life are more deceiving than a Week 1 game, especially those played in a rainstorm on the other side of an ocean. — Stewart Mandel, New York Times, 27 Aug. 2025

Verb

But looks are deceiving in this case – just like the 3X Plus and 3X before it, the trailer stretches out via three individual telescopic segments that emerge at the push of a button. — New Atlas, 26 Oct. 2026 Facebook’s lawyers argued that the state failed to prove whether people were actually harmed by these deceiving statements. — Mikella Schuettler, Fortune, 21 Oct. 2026 That’s why a new band bleeding the edges of garage, punk, Americana, and indie rock is deceiving when old heads who’ve remained involved since the aughts remember Hollywell strictly from his crusty folk-punk days before smartphones and social media. — Nina Corcoran, Pitchfork, 21 Oct. 2026 New Mexico sued Facebook in 2021, accusing it of mishandling state residents’ personal information and deceiving those users about its policies in connection with the incident. — Clare Duffy, CNN Money, 21 Oct. 2026 The earnings report came hours after a New Mexico state judge ordered Meta to pay $25 billion after a jury found the company liable last month for deceiving users about Facebook‘s data privacy and content moderation policies. — Corbin Bolies, Variety, 21 Oct. 2026 During the trial, the state accused Facebook of deceiving its users about a data breach stemming from a third-party personality quiz that obtained data from about 87 million Facebook profiles. — ABC News, 21 Oct. 2026 Looking at wins and losses is useful and necessary, but often deceiving as to which team is better. — Ian Miller Outkick, FOXNews.com, 7 Oct. 2026 But 3-0 marks can be deceiving heading into a battle of unbeatens at home against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. — Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 4 Oct. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for deceiving

Adjective

Meta argued the state failed to prove misleading statements about privacy and that content moderation actually harmed New Mexicans.

— ABC News, ABC News, 21 Oct. 2026
Meta argued that New Mexico failed to prove that the tech giant's executives made misleading statements about privacy and that its content moderation practices harmed state residents.

— Aimee Picchi, CBS News, 21 Oct. 2026

Definition of misleading

Verb

The top-performing red teamer on the original Arena was a lawyer from Melbourne who just happened to be good at tricking models into jumping their guardrails.

— Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 20 Oct. 2026
RatHat relies heavily on tricking someone into installing a malicious Android app and approving powerful permissions.

— Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 2 Oct. 2026

Definition of tricking

Adjective

But several Theranos staffers and journalists say Holmes was frequently deceptive and would lie repeatedly, especially when confronted with facts.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 21 Oct. 2026
California and Hawaii, for example, are two states that have banned sharing deceptive AI content about candidates in the months around an election.

— Jordi Calvet-Bademunt, The Conversation, 20 Oct. 2026

Definition of deceptive

Verb

In the highlight, Marshall retrieves the ball and oddly fires it back to the infield, fooling no one.

— Tyler Kepner, New York Times, 4 Sep. 2026
Anybody hoping that a Netanyahu defeat in October and the emergence of a less controversial successor will reset the table is likely fooling themselves.

— Daniel DePetris, Chicago Tribune, 18 Aug. 2026

Definition of fooling

Adjective

Experts worry federal law enforcement could potentially use those false claims — or others generated this year — as pretext to try to seize ballots during the counting period, or interfere in the process in some other way.

— Miles Parks, NPR, 22 Oct. 2026
The false polling data from Wedgewood Polls consistently favored Democrats, particularly progressive candidates.

— Hailey Bullis, The Washington Examiner, 22 Oct. 2026

Definition of false

Browse Nearby Words

deceives

deceiving

decelerate

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Style

“Deceiving.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/deceiving. Accessed 28 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of deceiving

adjective

verb

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