Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Deceiving or tending to deceive.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Tending to deceive; apt or having power to mislead or impress false opinions: as, a deceptive countenance or appearance.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Tending to deceive; having power to mislead, or impress with false opinions.
  • adjective (Mus.) a cadence on the subdominant, or in some foreign key, postponing the final close.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective misleading, likely or attempting to deceive

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective designed to deceive or mislead either deliberately or inadvertently
  • adjective causing one to believe what is not true or fail to believe what is true

Etymologies

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Examples

  • This comes soon after Britain's foreign secretary, David Miliband, urged we stop using the term 'war on terror,' which he called deceptive and misleading.

    Eric Margolis: President Obama's War 2009

  • On Nov. 3, Zango paid a $3 million fine to settle an FTC investigation into what it called deceptive marketing practices by the Bellevue, Wash., company.

    Has Zango Reformed? 2006

  • The Cornell researchers tackled what they call deceptive opinion spam by commissioning freelance writers on

    NYT > Home Page By DAVID STREITFELD 2011

  • The Cornell researchers tackled what they call deceptive opinion spam by commissioning freelance writers on

    NYT > Home Page By DAVID STREITFELD 2011

  • The Cornell researchers tackled what they call deceptive opinion spam by commissioning freelance writers on

    NYT > Home Page By DAVID STREITFELD 2011

  • The Cornell researchers tackled what they call deceptive opinion spam by commissioning freelance writers on

    NYT > Home Page By DAVID STREITFELD 2011

  • An earlier ad featuring staff -- including chief executive Rob Fyfe -- in body paint said Air New Zealand had 'nothing to hide' about its fares, in contrast to what it called the deceptive pricing of low-cost carriers.

    Home | Mail Online 2010

  • Hassan, who's written two books on combating mind control, says he's not objecting to Scientology's beliefs -- he's objecting to its practices, including what he calls deceptive recruitment.

    Chicago Reader 2010

  • Coca-Cola's line of VitaminWater drinks is not healthful, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which is suing the beverage company for what it calls deceptive and unsubstantiated claims.

    STREET KNOWLEDGE MEDIA 2009

  • Durbin also discussed legislation that would set up a watchdog group to protect consumers against what he called deceptive practices by the credit-card industry.

    The State Journal-Register Home RSS 2009

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