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Deceit vs Prank - What's the difference?

deceit | prank |

As nouns the difference between deceit and prank

is that deceit is an act or practice intended to deceive; a trick while prank is (obsolete) an evil deed; a malicious trick, an act of cruel deception.

As a verb prank is

to adorn in a showy manner; to dress or equip ostentatiously.

As an adjective prank is

(obsolete) full of gambols or tricks.

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

    prank

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) An evil deed; a malicious trick, an act of cruel deception.
  • *, II.4.2.ii:
    • Hercules, after all his mad pranks upon his wife and children, was perfectly cured by a purge of hellebor, which an Antieyrian administered unto him.
  • A practical joke or mischievous trick.
  • * Shakespeare
    • His pranks have been too broad to bear with.
  • * Sir Walter Raleigh
    • The harpies played their accustomed pranks .
    Pranks may be funny, but remember that some people are aggressive.
    He pulled a gruesome prank on his sister.

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * prankish * pranksome * prankster

    Verb

  • To adorn in a showy manner; to dress or equip ostentatiously.
  • * Spenser
    • In sumptuous tire she joyed herself to prank .
  • * 1748 , , B:II
    • And there a Sea?on atween June and May,
    Half prankt with Spring, with Summer half imbrown'd,
    A li?tle?s Climate made, where, Sooth to ?ay,
    No living Wight could work, ne cared even for Play.
  • * 1880 , For Spring, by Sandro Botticelli , lines 2–3
    • ''Flora, wanton-eyed
    ''For birth, and with all flowrets prankt and pied:
  • To make ostentatious show.
  • * M. Arnold
    • White houses prank where once were huts.
  • To perform a practical joke on; to trick.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2007, date=May 13, author=Karen Crouse, title=Still Invitation Only, but Jets Widen Door for Camp, work=New York Times citation
    • , passage=“If someone’s pranking me,” Rowlands remembered thinking, “they’re going to great lengths to make it work.” }}
  • (slang) To call someone's phone and promptly hang up
    • Hey man, prank me when you wanna get picked up.
    I don't have your number in my phone, can you prank me?

    Synonyms

    (call and promptly hang up) missed call, missed-call

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (obsolete) Full of gambols or tricks.
    • (Webster 1913) English transitive verbs