deceptively
Americanadverb
-
in a way that tends to mislead or give a false impression.
This game is played with such deceptively simple materials, yet is so interestingly complex!
Some of these harmful foods are deceptively marketed as "healthy" by giant food corporations.
-
in a way that is perceptually misleading.
If only a segment of sky is visible, the bands of Earth’s shadow and the Belt of Venus appear deceptively parallel.
Other Word Forms
- nondeceptively adverb
- undeceptively adverb
Etymology
Origin of deceptively
First recorded in 1810–20; deceptive ( def. ) + -ly ( def. )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He launched a similar inquiry into Kellogg’s, suggesting it had deceptively marketed its cereals, as if it were some scandalous secret that Froot Loops contain food coloring.
With each manicured frame and deceptively poignant observation on the impossibility of living normally in modern life, Kramer concocts an original, wonderfully empathetic study of the desire to play spectator to a world on fire.
From Salon
Few 20th-century writers bred as many imitators as Ernest Hemingway, but his followers rarely matched the subtleties of his deceptively simple style.
For more than 50 years, he has been creating deceptively simple but often back-breaking works in nature, through freezing winters, boiling summers and the seasons in between.
From BBC
Cinema wasn’t just in great shape; it was pacing itself, building its strength for one of its most exemplary, most deceptively important films this century: “The Housemaid.”
From Salon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
