dissembler

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He was an adroit dissembler, a practical politician.

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Definitions (4)

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  1. One who dissembles; one who conceals his opinions, character, etc., under a false appearance; one who pretends that a thing which is is not. The French are passing courtly, ripe of wit, Kind, but extreme dissemblers. Ford, Love's Sacrifice, i. 1. A deep dissembler, not of his affections only, but of religion. Milton, Eikonoklastes.
  2. Synonyms Dissembler, Hypocrite. A dissembler is one who tries to conceal what he is; a hypocrite, one who tries to make himself appear to be what he is not, especially to seem better than he is. See dissemble. The old sovereign of the world [Tiberius as depicted by Tacitus], … conscious of failing strength, raging with capricious sensuality, yet to the last the keenest of observers, the most artful of dissemblers, and the most terrible of masters. Macaulay, On History. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Mat. xxiii. 27.

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Examples (50)

  • Abraxas is the sun and also the eternally gaping abyss of emptiness, of the diminisher and dissembler, the devil. —  Dozois, Gardner ; Strahan, Jonathan - SSC - The New Space Opera (v1.0)
  • The successful male dissembler is generally a crook. —  'Oh, Well, You Know How Women Are!'
  • She was no dissembler, never having been accustomed to concealment, and possessing naturally a very open character; so, with a few skilful questions, the Major easily drew from her the entire story She had prepared herself to expect a stern rebuke, but to her surprise her father seemed far more pained than angry I thought my children could have trusted me!" —  The New Girl at St. Chad's A Story of School Life
  • He could not quite do as he wished, however, for he was too honest to be a good dissembler, and his voice faltered, and his hand trembled, as he uttered a hurried good-bye. —  Grace Darling Heroine of the Farne Islands
  • How did Sampaolo come to be an Island of the Distressed He 's not such a poor dissembler, after all,--when roused to action," thought Susanna. —  The Lady Paramount
 

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