| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | deceptive |
| Synonyms: | Barmecidal, apparent, blue sky, chimerical, deceitful, delusive, delusory, fallacious, false, fanciful, fantastic, fictional, fictitious, fictive, float, hallucinatory, ideal, illusive, imaginary, misleading, mistaken, ostensible, pipe dream, seeming, semblant, sham, suppositious, supposititious, unreal, untrue, visionary, whimsical |
| Notes: | illusory means based on or having the nature of an illusion; elusive means difficult to describe or skillful at eluding capture |
| Antonyms: | genuine, real |
| Main Entry: | airy |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | delicate or ethereal |
| Synonyms: | dainty, diaphanous, flimsy, fragile, frail, frivolous, illusory, imaginary, immaterial, intangible, light, rare, rarefied, tenuous, thin, vaporous, visionary, volatile, weightless, wispy |
| Antonyms: | heavy |
| Main Entry: | apparent |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | seeming, not proven real |
| Synonyms: | credible, illusive, illusory, likely, ostensible, outward, plausible, possible, probable, semblant, specious, superficial, supposed, suppositious |
| Antonyms: | doubtful, dubious, equivocal, hidden, improbable, obscure, questionable, real, uncertain, unclear, unlikely |
| Main Entry: | arty |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | pretended expertise in art; affected interest |
| Synonyms: | affected, deceptive, ephemeral, false, flaunting, illusory, imitative, overblown, popular, popularized, pretentious, pseudo, tasteless |
| 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: | delusive |
| 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: | elusive |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | evasive, mysterious |
| Synonyms: | ambiguous, baffling, cagey, deceitful, deceptive, difficult to catch, elusory, equivocal, evanescent, fallacious, fleeting, fraudulent, fugacious, fugitive, greasy, illusory, imponderable, incomprehensible, indefinable, insubstantial, intangible, misleading, occult, phantom, puzzling, shifty, shy, slippery, stonewalling, subtle, transient, transitory, tricky, unspecific, volatile |
| Notes: | elusive is used when what is being avoided is physical capture or apprehension, whereas evasive is used when what is being avoided is direct or relevant response to a verbal challenge illusory means based on or having the nature of an illusion; elusive means difficult to describe or skillful at eluding capture |
| Antonyms: | attracting, confronting, encountering, enticing, facing, inviting |
| 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 |