Deceit vs Pretense - What's the difference?
deceit | pretense |
An act or practice intended to deceive; a trick
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.
(US) A false or hypocritical profession, as, under pretense of friendliness.
Intention or purpose not real but professed.
An unsupported claim made or implied.
An insincere attempt to reach a specific condition or quality.
As nouns the difference between deceit and pretense
is that deceit is an act or practice intended to deceive; a trick while pretense is (us) a false or hypocritical profession, as, under pretense of friendliness.deceit
English
Alternative forms
* (obsolete)Noun
(en noun)- The whole conversation was merely a deceit .
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 alsoDerived terms
* deceitfulpretense
English
Alternative forms
* pretence (Only correct spelling in the UK, the Republic of Ireland, and Commonwealth countries, and historical use in the United States) * (archaic)Noun
(en noun)- with only a pretense of accuracy
