| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | misrepresentation |
| Synonyms: | bill of goods, con, conning, flattery, flimflam, hosing, ripoff, scam, smoke and mirrors, soft sell, soft soap, song and dance, the business |
| Main Entry: | deceit |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | particular type of trick, misleading |
| Synonyms: | artifice, blind, cheat, chicanery, crocodile tears, deception, dirty trick, dirty work, duplicity, fake, feint, flimflam, fraud, fraudulence, hoax, humbug, imposture, misrepresentation, pretense, ruse, sell, sellout, sham, shift, smoke and mirrors, snow job, soft soap, spoof, stratagem, subterfuge, sweet talk, swindle, trick, whitewash, wile |
| Main Entry: | deception |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | misleading; being dishonest |
| Synonyms: | beguilement, betrayal, blarney, boondoggle, cheat, circumvention, cozenage, craftiness, cunning, deceit, deceitfulness, deceptiveness, defraudation, dirt, disinformation, dissimulation, double-dealing, dupery, duplicity, equivocation, falsehood, fast one, flimflam, fraud, fraudulence, guile, hokum, hypocrisy, imposition, insincerity, juggling, legerdemain, lying, mendacity, pretense, prevarication, snow job, sophism, treachery, treason, trickery, trickiness, trumpery, untruth |
| Antonyms: | frankness, honesty, honor, openness, trustworthiness, truth, truthfulness, uprightness |
| Main Entry: | deception |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | trick |
| Synonyms: | artifice, bilk, bluff, catch, cheat, chicane, con, con game, confidence game, cover-up, crock, decoy, device, dodge, fallacy, fast one, fast shuffle, feint, fib, fraud, gimmick, hoax, hogwash, hustle, illusion, imposture, jive, lie, malarkey, mare's-nest, pretext, ride*, ruse, scam, sham, shift, shuck, snare, snow job, stall, sting, story, stratagem, subterfuge, swindle, trap, trick, whitewash, wile, wrinkle |
| Main Entry: | flattery |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | false praise, compliments |
| Synonyms: | adulation, applause, approbation, blandishment, blarney, bootlicking, cajolery, commendation, encomium, eulogy, eyewash, fawning, flattering, flummery, fulsomeness, gallantry, gratification, hokum, honeyed words, incense, ingratiation, jive, laud, mush, obsequiousness, palaver, plaudits, pretty speech, puffery, servility, smoke*, snow job, snow*, soft words, soft-soap, stroke*, sweet talk, sycophancy, toadyism, tribute, truckling, unctuousness |
| Antonyms: | belittlement, castigation, condemnation, criticism, denunciation, insult, offense |
| Main Entry: | hoax |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | trick |
| Synonyms: | cheat, cock-and-bull story, con game, con*, crock, deceit, deception, dodge, fabrication, fake, falsification, fast one, fast shuffle, fib, flimflam, fraud, gimmick, gyp, hooey, humbug, hustle, imposture, joke, lie, practical joke, prank, put-on, racket, ruse, scam, sell, shift, snow job, spoof, sting, swindle, whopper |
| Main Entry: | humbug |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | hoax |
| Synonyms: | con game, con*, deceit, fast one, flimflam, fraud, gyp, hustle, prank, put-on, scam, snow job, spoof, sting, swindle |
| Main Entry: | inducement |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | incentive, motive |
| Synonyms: | attraction, bait, brainwash*, carrot, cause, come-on, con*, consideration, desire, encouragement, hard sell, hook*, impulse, incitement, influence, leader, lure, reward, snow job, soft soap, spur, stimulus, sweet talk, temptation, twist, urge |
| Notes: | the temporal orientation of incentive is toward the future; that of inducement is toward the past |
| Antonyms: | discouragement, disincentive, hindrance, prevention |
| Main Entry: | joke |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | fun, quip |
| Synonyms: | antic, bon mot, buffoonery, burlesque, caper, caprice, chestnut, clowning, drollery, epigram, escapade, farce, frolic, gag, gambol, game, ha-ha, hoodwinking, horseplay, humor, jape, jest, lark, laugh, mischief, monkeyshine, mummery, one-liner, parody, payoff, play, pleasantry, prank, pun, put-on, quirk, raillery, repartee, revel, rib, sally, saw, shaggy-dog story, shenanigan, snow job, sport, spree, stunt, tomfoolery, trick, vagary, whimsy, wisecrack, witticism, yarn |