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| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | doubtful, suspicious |
| Synonyms: | ambiguous, doubtable, dubious, dubitable, equivocal, far-fetched, funny, implausible, improbable, odd, problematic, queer, questionable, shady, suspect, uncertain, unlikely |
| Antonyms: | aboveboard, honest, likely, probable, real, truthful, unquestionable, unsuspicious |
| 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 |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | devious |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | dishonest, crafty |
| Synonyms: | artful, calculating, crooked, deceitful, double-dealing, duplicitous, errant, erring, evasive, faking one out, fishy, foxy*, fraudulent, guileful, indirect, insidious, insincere, not straightforward, oblique, obliquitous, playing games, playing politics, put on, roundabout, scheming, shady, shifty, shrewd, sly, sneaking, sneaky, surreptitious, treacherous, tricky, underhanded, wily |
| Antonyms: | artless, frank, honest, open, straightforward, trustworthy, truthful |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | doubtful |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | questionable, unclear |
| Synonyms: | ambiguous, borderline, chancy, clouded, contingent, debatable, dicey, disreputable, doubtable, dubious, dubitable, equivocal, far-fetched, fat chance, fishy, hazardous, hazy, iffy, impugnable, inconclusive, indecisive, indefinite, indeterminate, indistinct, insecure, long shot, obscure, on thin ice, open, pending, precarious, problematic, shady, sneaky*, speculative, suspect, suspicious, touch-and-go, touchy, uncertain, unconfirmed, undecided, uneasy, unsettled, unstable, unsure, up for grabs |
| Notes: | a person is capable of doubting, whereas a thing is dubitable; dubious, unlike doubtful, carries the connotation of suspicion |
| Antonyms: | certain, clear, confirmed, decided, definite, exact, resolved, settled, unquestionable |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | dubious |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | doubtful |
| Synonyms: | arguable, chancy, debatable, diffident, disputable, dubitable, equivocal, far-fetched, fishy, fly-by-night, hesitant, iffy, improbable, indecisive, moot, mootable, open, perplexed, problematic, questionable, reluctant, shady, skeptical, suspect, suspicious, touch and go, trustless, unassured, uncertain, unclear, unconvinced, undecided, undependable, unlikely, unreliable, unsure, untrustworthy, untrusty, wavering |
| Notes: | a person is capable of doubting, whereas a thing is dubitable; dubious, unlike doubtful, carries the connotation of suspicion |
| Antonyms: | certain, definite, doubtless, positive, reliable, sure, trustworthy, trusty, undoubtful |
| Main Entry: | equivocal |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | doubtful, uncertain |
| Synonyms: | ambiguous, ambivalent, amphibological, borderline, clear as mud, clouded, disreputable, dubious, evasive, fishy, fuzzy*, hazy*, indefinite, indeterminate, indistinct, misleading, muddled, muzzy, oblique, obscure, open, problematic, puzzling, questionable, suspect, suspicious, tenebrous, unclear, undecided, unexplicit, unintelligible, vague, with mixed feelings |
| Notes: | ambiguous is vague by accident or intent; equivocal is vague by intent |
| Antonyms: | certain, clear, definite, determined, obvious, plain, sure, unequivocal, unquestionable |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| 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 |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| 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 |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | false |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | fake, counterfeit |
| Synonyms: | adulterated, alloyed, artificial, assumed, bent, bogus*, brummagem, bum*, colored, contrived, copied, crock, deceptive, disguised, ersatz*, fabricated, factitious, feigned, fishy, forged, framed, hollow, imitation, made-up, make-believe, manufactured, meretricious, mock, ostensible, phony, pretended, pseudo*, seeming, shady, sham*, simulated, snide, so-called, spurious, substitute, synthetic, unreal, wrong |
| 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: | actual, genuine, real, valid |
* = informal/non-formal usage
Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition
Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.
Cite This Source
Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition
Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2013 Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
