Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Disposition or tendency to deceive or mislead; the quality of being deceitful.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The disposition to deceive.
  • noun The quality of being deceitful.
  • noun Tendency to mislead or deceive.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The state or quality of being deceitful.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the quality of being crafty

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From deceitful +‎ -ness.

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Examples

  • Now duplicity does not seem to pertain to lust, but rather to deceitfulness, which is a daughter of covetousness, according to Gregory (Moral. xxxi, 45).

    Summa Theologica, Part II-II (Secunda Secundae) Translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province Aquinas Thomas

  • The deceitfulness, that is, the depth of wickedness, and the abominableness, past all words, of thine own heart.

    Bunyan Characters (3rd Series) Alexander Whyte 1878

  • It is what the scripture calls the deceitfulness of sin.

    Sermons on various important subjects of doctrine and practice 1812

  • In its written decision last spring, the disciplinary board found Lenger guilty of disgraceful conduct, finding that his "deceitfulness" plus "the sheer extent of the absences" were particularly troubling.

    canada.com Top Stories 2009

  • It comes ek tou Diabolou; so an ancient copy has it: it comes from the Devil, the evil one; it comes from the corruption of men's nature, from passion and vehemence; from a reigning vanity in the mind, and a contempt of sacred things: it comes from that deceitfulness which is in men, All men are liars; therefore men use these protestations, because they are distrustful one of another, and think they cannot be believed without them.

    Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume V (Matthew to John) 1721

  • The only way he got elected was by Chicago-style deceitfulness, and the Americans are getting tired of it.

    Tom McIntyre Explains His Picks for our 2009 Hunting and Fishing Heroes and Villians Face-Off 2009

  • People relegated to the American moral minority, the sort of folk who were serially engaged in things like promiscuity, deceitfulness, drug abuse, prejudice, and crime—usually simultaneously—were suddenly revealed to the rest of us.

    In the Time of Bobby Cox Lang Whitaker 2011

  • People relegated to the American moral minority, the sort of folk who were serially engaged in things like promiscuity, deceitfulness, drug abuse, prejudice, and crime—usually simultaneously—were suddenly revealed to the rest of us.

    In the Time of Bobby Cox Lang Whitaker 2011

  • "Let their insults, deceitfulness, and contempt for everything appear to be understood by you and yet seem not understood, for you should look somewhat stupid."

    A Diplomat Looks East Bret Stephens 2011

  • She had to be aware of her deceitfulness, her laziness, and her meanness.

    Raven V.C Andrews 2011

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