deceit

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)An act or practice intended to deceive; a trick.

   “The whole conversation was merely a deceit.”

2. (countable, uncountable)An act of deceiving someone.

   “Upon his return he killed Eriphyle for her vanity and deceit of him and his father.”

3. (uncountable)The state of being deceitful or deceptive.

   “[T]he tvvo commended rules by him [Aristotle] ſet down, vvhereby the axioms of Sciences are precepted to be made convertible, and vvhich the latter men have not vvithout elegancy ſurnamed; the one the rule of truth, becauſe it preventeth deceipt; the other the rule of prudence, becauſe it freeth election, are the ſame thing in ſpeculation and affirmation, vvhich vve novv obſerve.”

   “His mouth is full of curſing, and deceit, and fraud : vnder his tongue is miſchiefe and vanitie.”

4. (countable, uncountable)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.