Membean is an incredibly effective way to learn words and permanently remember them.
Learn more on how we help for Test Prep, Personal Learning, or get it for your School.

  • Verb

deceive

dih-SEEV

Context
Help

This morning I tried to deceive or trick my brother by telling him it was Saturday when it was really Friday; I thought it would be funny to make him late for school. Later in the day, my teacher asked to talk with me about how I cheated on a test; she said I had deceived her by not being honest. It turns out that my brother and my teacher worked together to deceive me or get me to believe I was in trouble, when I wasn’t! After that scare, I don’t plan to deceive or lie to anyone again—it doesn’t feel good to be the person who is tricked.

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

  • You are telling them the truth.
  • You are giving them information that they need.
  • You are fooling them in some way.

Memory Hook
Help

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

Examples
Help

  • In one version, Jacob intended to deceive and made a statement that was _false_. — NPR
  • Cambridge Analytica deceived more than 250,000 Facebook users by falsely telling them the political ad firm would not collect any personal information, the Federal Trade Commission says. — USA Today

Word Ingredients
Help

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
Help

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
Help

Deceive

Word Variants
Help

deception n → the act of tricking someone
deceit n → trickery