| Main Entry: |
delusory
|
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | deceptive |
| Synonyms: | chimeric, chimerical, deceitful, deceiving, deluding, delusive, fallacious, false, illusive, illusory, imaginary, misleading |
| 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: | 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: | 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 |
| Main Entry: | lying |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | dishonest |
| Synonyms: | committing perjury, deceitful, deceptive, delusive, delusory, dissembling, dissimulating, double-crossing, double-dealing, equivocating, false, falsifying, fibbing, guileful, inventing, mendacious, misleading, misrepresenting, misstating, perfidious, prevaricating, shifty, treacherous, tricky, two-faced, two-timing, unreliable, untruthful, wrong |
| Antonyms: | direct, frank, honest |
| Main Entry: | misleading |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | deceptive, confusing |
| Synonyms: | ambiguous, beguiling, bewildering, casuistical, catchy, confounding, deceitful, deceiving, deluding, delusive, delusory, demagogic, disingenuous, distracting, evasive, fallacious, false, inaccurate, perplexing, puzzling, sophistical, specious, spurious, tricky, wrong |
| Antonyms: | honest, truthful |
| Main Entry: | tricky |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | deceptive, sly |
| Synonyms: | artful, astute, cagey, catchy, clever, crafty, cunning, deceitful, deep, delusive, delusory, devious, dishonest, foxy, greasy, guileful, insidious, intelligent, keen, misleading, scheming, shady, sharp, shifty, shrewd, slick*, slippery*, smooth, streetwise, subtle, treacherous, wily, witted, wry |
| Antonyms: | aboveboard, frank, honest |