Topic Thesaurus
Roget's Thesaurus

Deception

Nouns
  • deception
  • falseness etc. Falsehood
  • untruth etc. Untruth
  • imposition, imposture
  • fraud, deceit, guile
  • fraudulence, fraudulency
  • covin
  • knavery etc. (cunning) Cunning
  • misrepresentation etc. (falsehood) Falsehood
  • bluff
  • straw-bail, straw bid [U.S.]
  • spoof [Slang]. delusion, gullery
  • juggling, jugglery
  • slight of hand, legerdemain
  • prestigiation, prestidigitation
  • magic etc. Sorcery
  • conjuring, conjuration
  • hocus-pocus, escamoterie, jockeyship
  • trickery, coggery, chicanery
  • supercherie, cozenage, circumvention, ingannation, collusion
  • treachery etc. Improbity
  • practical joke. trick, cheat, wile, blind, feint, plant, bubble, fetch, catch, chicane, juggle, reach, hocus, bite
  • card sharping, stacked deck, loaded dice, quick shuffle, double dealing, dealing seconds, dealing from the bottom of the deck
  • artful dodge, swindle
  • tricks upon travelers
  • stratagem etc. (artifice) Cunning
  • confidence trick, fake, hoax
  • theft etc. Stealing
  • ballot-box stuffing [U.S.], barney [Slang]
  • brace game [Slang], bunko game, drop game [Slang], gum game [U.S.], panel game [U.S.], shell game, thimblerig, skin game [U.S.]. snare, trap, pitfall, decoy, gin
  • springe, springle
  • noose, hoot
  • bait, decoy-duck, tub to the whale, baited trap, guet-a-pens
  • cobweb, net, meshes, toils, mouse trap, birdlime
  • dionaea, Venus's flytrap
  • ambush etc. Ambush [Means of concealment].
  • trapdoor, sliding panel, false bottom
  • spring-net, spring net, spring gun, mask, masked battery
  • mine
  • flytrap
  • green goods [U.S.]
  • panel house. Cornish hug
  • wolf in sheep's clothing etc. (deceiver) Deceiver
  • disguise, disguisement
  • false colors, masquerade, mummery, borrowed plumes
  • copy etc. [Result of imitation.] Copy
  • counterfeit, sham, make-believe, forgery, fraud
  • lie etc. Untruth
  • a delusion a mockery and a snare" [Denman], hollow mockery. whited sepulcher, painted sepulcher
  • tinsel
  • paste, junk jewelry, costume jewelry, false jewelry, synthetic jewels
  • scagliola, ormolu, German silver, albata, paktong, white metal, Britannia metal, paint
  • veneer
  • jerry building
  • man of straw. illusion etc. (error) Error
  • mirage etc. [Imperfect vision.] Dimsightedness [Fallacies of vision.].
Verbs
  • deceive, take in
  • defraud, cheat, jockey, do, cozen, diddle, nab, chouse, play one false, bilk, cully, jilt, bite, pluck, swindle, victimize
  • abuse
  • mystify
  • blind one's eyes
  • blindfold, hoodwink
  • throw dust into the eyes
  • dupe, gull, hoax, fool, befool, bamboozle, flimflam, hornswoggle
  • trick. impose upon, practice upon, play upon, put upon, palm off on, palm upon, foist upon
  • snatch a verdict
  • bluff off, bluff
  • bunko, four flush [Slang], gum [U.S.], spoof [Slang], stuff (a ballot box) [U.S.]. circumvent, overreach
  • outreach, out wit, out maneuver
  • steal a march upon, give the go-by, to leave in the lurch decoy, waylay, lure, beguile, delude, inveigle
  • entrap, intrap, ensnare
  • nick, springe
  • set a trap, lay a trap, lay a snare for
  • bait the hook, forelay, spread the toils, lime
  • trapan, trepan
  • kidnap
  • let in, hook in
  • nousle, nousel
  • blind a trail
  • enmesh, immesh
  • shanghai
  • catch, catch in a trap
  • sniggle, entangle, illaqueate, hocus, escamoter, practice on one's credulity
  • hum, humbug
  • gammon, stuff up [Slang], sell
  • play a trick upon one, play a practical joke upon one, put something over on one, put one over on
  • balk, trip up, throw a tub to a whale
  • fool to the top of one's bent, send on a fool's errand
  • make game, make a fool of, make an April fool of, make an ass of
  • trifle with, cajole, flatter
  • come over etc. (influence) Motive
  • gild the pill, make things pleasant, divert, put a good face upon
  • dissemble etc. Falsehood. cog, cog the dice, load the dice, stack the deck
  • live by one's wits, play at hide and seek
  • obtain money under false pretenses etc. (steal) Stealing
  • conjure, juggle, practice chicanery
  • deacon [U.S.]. play off, palm off, foist off, fob-off. lie etc. Falsehood
  • misinform etc. Misteaching
  • mislead etc. (error) Error
  • betray etc. Improbity
  • be deceived etc. Dupe.
Adjectives
  • deceived etc. v.
  • deceiving etc.
  • cunning etc. Cunning
  • prestigious, prestigiatory
  • deceptive, deceptious
  • deceitful, covinous
  • delusive, delusory
  • illusive, illusory
  • elusive, insidious
  • mock, sham, make-believe, counterfeit, snide [Slang], pseudo, spurious, supposititious, so-called, pretended, feigned, trumped up, bogus, scamped, fraudulent, tricky, factitious bastard
  • surreptitious, illegitimate, contraband, adulterated, sophisticated
  • unsound, rotten at the core
  • colorable
  • disguised
  • meretricious, tinsel, pinchbeck, plated
  • catchpenny
  • Brummagem. artificial, synthetic
  • simulated etc. Falsehood.
Adverbs
  • under false colors, under the garb of, under cover of
  • over the left.
Phrases
  • keep the word of promise to the ear and break it to keep the word of promise to the ear and break it to the hope" [Macbeth]
  • ah that deceit should steal such gentle shapes" [Richard III]
  • a quicksand of deceit" [Henry VI]
  • so smooth, he daubed his vice with show of so smooth, he daubed his vice with show of virtue" [Richard III].