Deceit vs Mistake - What's the difference?

deceit | mistake | Related terms |

As nouns the difference between deceit and mistake

is that deceit is an act or practice intended to deceive; a trick while mistake is an error; a blunder.

As a verb mistake is

to understand wrongly, taking one thing for another, or someone for someone else.

deceit

English

Alternative forms

* (obsolete)

Noun

(en noun)

An act or practice intended to deceive; a trick

The whole conversation was merely a deceit .

An act of deceiving someone

* {{quote-book, year=1998, author=Mike Dixon-Kennedy, title=Encyclopedia of Greco-Roman Mythology, page=125, pageurl=http://books.google.com/books?id=2U7okUE3PIcC&pg=PA125

, passage=Upon his return he killed Eriphyle for her vanity and deceit of him and his father. }}

(uncountable) The state of being deceitful or deceptive

* {{quote-book, year=1611, title=King James Bible, chapter=Psalms 10:7

, passage=His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.}}

(legal) The tort or fraudulent representation of a material fact made with knowledge of its falsity, or recklessly, or without reasonable grounds for believing its truth and with intent to induce reliance on it; the plaintiff justifiably relies on the deception, to his injury.

Synonyms

* (act or behavior intended to deceive) trick, fraud * (act of deceiving) deception, trickery * (state of being deceptive) underhandedness, deceptiveness, deceitfulness, dissimulation, fraudulence, trickery * See also

Derived terms

* deceitful

mistake

English

Noun

(en noun)

An error; a blunder.

* 1877 , Henry Heth, quoting , in "Causes of the Defeat of Gen. Lee's Army at the Battle of GettysburgOpinions of Leading Confederate Soldiers.", Southern Historical Society Papers (1877), editor Rev. J. WM. Jones [http://books.google.com/books?id=iDIFAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA292&dq=lee+%22mistakes+were+made%22&hl=en&ei=fchaTbu4L8L98AaVs4n-DQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=lee%20%22mistakes%20were%20made%22&f=false]

After it is all over, as stupid a fellow as I am can see that mistakes' were made. I notice, however, that my ' mistakes are never told me until it is too late.

(baseball) A pitch which was intended to be pitched in a hard to hit location, but instead ends up in an easy to hit place

Synonyms

* See also

Usage notes

* Usually make a mistake. See

Verb

To understand wrongly, taking one thing for another, or someone for someone else.

Sorry, I mistook you for my brother. You look very similar.

* Shakespeare

My father's purposes have been mistook .

* Johnson

A man may mistake the love of virtue for the practice of it.

To commit an unintentional error; to do or think something wrong.

* Jonathan Swift

Servants mistake , and sometimes occasion misunderstanding among friends.

(obsolete, rare) To take or choose wrongly.

(Shakespeare)

Derived terms

* mistakeless