DECEITFUL

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does deceitful mean? 

• DECEITFUL (adjective)
  The adjective DECEITFUL has 2 senses:

1. intended to deceive

2. marked by deliberate deceptiveness especially by pretending one set of feelings and acting under the influence of another

  Familiarity information: DECEITFUL used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DECEITFUL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Intended to deceive

Synonyms:

deceitful; fallacious; fraudulent

Context example:

a fraudulent scheme to escape paying taxes

Similar:

dishonest; dishonorable (deceptive or fraudulent; disposed to cheat or defraud or deceive)

Derivation:

deceitfulness (the quality of being crafty)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Marked by deliberate deceptiveness especially by pretending one set of feelings and acting under the influence of another

Synonyms:

ambidextrous; deceitful; double-dealing; double-faced; double-tongued; duplicitous; Janus-faced; two-faced

Context example:

a double-faced infernal traitor and schemer

Similar:

dishonest; dishonorable (deceptive or fraudulent; disposed to cheat or defraud or deceive)

Derivation:

deceitfulness (the quality of being crafty)

 Context examples 

People think you a good woman, but you are bad, hard-hearted. You are deceitful!

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“A deceitful, bad-hearted girl,” said Mrs. Joram.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Such a scoundrel of a fellow! such a deceitful dog!

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

We both know that he has been profligate in every sense of the word; that he has neither integrity nor honour; that he is as false and deceitful as he is insinuating.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

You told Mr. Brocklehurst I had a bad character, a deceitful disposition; and I'll let everybody at Lowood know what you are, and what you have done.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He has been very deceitful! and, in some points, there seems a hardness of heart about him.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

“Nothing is more deceitful,” said Darcy, “than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast.”

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

I gathered my energies and launched them in this blunt sentence—I am not deceitful: if I were, I should say I loved you; but I declare I do not love you: I dislike you the worst of anybody in the world except John Reed; and this book about the liar, you may give to your girl, Georgiana, for it is she who tells lies, and not I.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Has there been any inconsistency on his side to create alarm? can he be deceitful?

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

I have erred against every common-place notion of decorum; I have been open and sincere where I ought to have been reserved, spiritless, dull, and deceitful—had I talked only of the weather and the roads, and had I spoken only once in ten minutes, this reproach would have been spared.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)