| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | deceptive |
| Synonyms: | apparent, beguiling, chimerical, deceiving, deluding, fallacious, false, fanciful, fantastic, illusive, illusory, imaginary, misleading, ostensible, quixotic, seeming, specious, spurious, visionary |
| Antonyms: | actual, certain, factual, honest, real, truthful |
| Main Entry: | deceitful |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | dishonest, insincere |
| Synonyms: | artful, astucious, astute, beguiling, clandestine, counterfeit, crafty, cunning, deceiving, deceptive, delusive, delusory, designing, disingenuous, double-dealing, duplicitous, fallacious, false, feline, foxy, fraudulent, furtive, guileful, hypocritical, illusory, impostrous, indirect, insidious, knavish, lying, mendacious, misleading, rascal, roguish, shifty, slick, sly, sneaky, stealthy, subtle, treacherous, tricky, two-faced, underhand, underhanded, untrustworthy, untruthful, wily |
| Notes: | deceitful means intended to deceive or cheat while deceptive means causing one to believe what is not true or likely to mislead someone |
| Antonyms: | faithful, frank, honest, loyal, open, sincere, trustworthy, truthful, upright |
| Main Entry: | deceptive |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | dishonest |
| Synonyms: | ambiguous, astucious, beguiling, bum*, catchy, crafty, cunning, deceitful, deceiving, deluding, delusive, delusory, designing, disingenuous, fake, fallacious, false, fishy, foxy, fraudulent, illusory, imposturous, indirect, insidious, lying, misleading, mock, oblique, off*, phony, plausible, rascal, roguish, scheming, seeming, serpentine, shifty, slick, slippery, sly, sneaky, snide, specious, spurious, subtle, treacherous, tricky, two-faced, underhand, underhanded, unreliable, wily |
| Notes: | deceitful means intended to deceive or cheat while deceptive means causing one to believe what is not true or likely to mislead someone |
| Antonyms: | forthright, frank, honest, open, truthful, upright |
| Main Entry: | fallacious |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | false, wrong |
| Synonyms: | beguiling, deceiving, deceptive, deluding, delusive, delusory, erroneous, fictitious, fishy, fraudulent, illogical, illusory, incorrect, invalid, irrational, mad, misleading, mistaken, off*, phony, reasonless, sophistic, sophistical, spurious, unfounded, ungrounded, unreal, unreasonable, unreasoned, unsound, untrue, way off |
| Notes: | fallacious means intended to deceive; fallible means liable to make a mistake or to be inaccurate or erroneous; false means not in accordance with the fact or reality or actuality, or deliberately deceptive, or not genuine or real |
| Antonyms: | correct, real, true, truthful |
| Main Entry: | false |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | wrong, made up |
| Synonyms: | apocryphal, beguiling, bogus, casuistic, concocted, contrary to fact, cooked-up, counterfactual, deceitful, deceiving, delusive, dishonest, distorted, erroneous, ersatz*, fake, fallacious, fanciful, faulty, fictitious, fishy, fraudulent, illusive, imaginary, improper, inaccurate, incorrect, inexact, invalid, lying, mendacious, misleading, misrepresentative, mistaken, off the mark, phony, sham, sophistical, specious, spurious, trumped up, unfounded, unreal, unsound, untrue, untruthful |
| Notes: | fallacious means intended to deceive; fallible means liable to make a mistake or to be inaccurate or erroneous; false means not in accordance with the fact or reality or actuality, or deliberately deceptive, or not genuine or real |
| Antonyms: | accurate, actual, correct, factual, genuine, known, precise, real, right, substantiated, true, valid |
| Main Entry: | false |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | dishonest, hypocritical |
| Synonyms: | apostate, base, beguiling, canting, corrupt, crooked, deceitful, deceiving, deceptive, deluding, delusive, devious, dishonorable, disloyal, double-dealing, duplicitous, faithless, falsehearted, forsworn, foul, lying, malevolent, malicious, mean, misleading, mythomaniac, perfidious, perjured, rascally, recreant, renegade, scoundrelly, traitorous, treacherous, treasonable, two-faced, underhanded, unfaithful, unscrupulous, untrustworthy, venal, villainous, wicked |
| Notes: | fallacious means intended to deceive; fallible means liable to make a mistake or to be inaccurate or erroneous; false means not in accordance with the fact or reality or actuality, or deliberately deceptive, or not genuine or real |
| Antonyms: | genuine, honest, just, reliable, right, straight, true, truthful |
| Main Entry: | fictitious |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | untrue, made-up |
| Synonyms: | apocryphal, artificial, assumed, bogus*, chimerical, concocted, cooked-up, counterfeit, created, deceptive, delusive, delusory, dishonest, ersatz*, fabricated, factitious, fake, faked, false, fanciful, fantastic, fashioned, feigned, fictional, fictive, figmental, hyped up, illusory, imaginary, imagined, improvised, invented, made, make-believe, misleading, mock, mythical, phony, queer, romantic, sham*, simulated, spurious, suppositious, supposititious, synthetic, trumped-up, unreal |
| Notes: | factitious refers to 'made up, contrived' as opposed to what is genuine, while fictitious is 'made up, contrived' as opposed to what is real; a factitious story might be designed to serve a purpose, but a fictitious story is intended to deceive fictional is pertaining to or found in fiction; fictitious is 'false, fraudulent' or 'non-existent' |
| Antonyms: | actual, certain, confirmed, factual, genuine, proven, real, sincere, sure, true, truthful |
| Main Entry: | futile |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | hopeless, pointless |
| Synonyms: | abortive, barren, bootless, delusive, empty, exhausted, forlorn, fruitless, hollow, idle, impracticable, impractical, in vain, ineffective, ineffectual, insufficient, no dice, nugatory, on a treadmill, otiose, out the window, profitless, resultless, save one's breath, sterile, to no avail, to no effect, to no purpose, trifling, trivial, unavailing, unimportant, unneeded, unproductive, unprofitable, unreal, unsatisfactory, unsubstantial, unsuccessful, useless, vain, valueless, worthless |
| Antonyms: | fruitful, hopeful, productive, profitable |
| Main Entry: | illusory/illusive |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | deceptive, false |
| Synonyms: | apparent, blue-sky, chimerical, deceitful, delusive, delusory, fake, fallacious, fanciful, fantastic, fictional, fictitious, fictive, hallucinatory, ideal, imaginary, misleading, mistaken, ostensible, pseudo*, seeming, semblant, sham*, suppositious, unreal, untrue, visionary, whimsical |
| Antonyms: | certain, factual, real, sure, true |