Home › Glossary › Letter D

deceitful

Adjective
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Dishonest, treacherous, or designed to mislead; in poetry, it may describe persons, appearances, words, or seemingly trustworthy things.

Detailed Definition
This adjective describes something that hides its true intent. In Blake’s poem, it helps show how the speaker’s smiles and actions are outwardly pleasant but inwardly false.
Example
Example in poetry:
“And with soft deceitful wiles” pairs deceitful with seductive manipulation; “Deceitful” describes a person, appearance, promise, or voice that deliberately misleads; “The deceitful calm before the storm” gives weather an ominously human motive; In a love lyric, a deceitful smile can complicate the speaker’s trust
Additional Notes
The line "And with soft deceitful wiles" uses a more literary adjective than ordinary speech, and readers may pause over its exact force.; Found in the poem, A Poison Tree by William Blake
Also Known As
treacherous duplicitous misleading
Skip to main content