Words / D / Law

deception

noun/dɪˈsepʃən/

B1CEFR level
20/100Rarity: fairly common
TechnicalRegister

The act of deliberately misleading another, often as the basis of an offence of dishonesty.

The old statute punished obtaining property by deception, requiring proof that the lie induced the transfer.

Similar: fraud, misrepresentation, deceit

Topic: Criminal law in Legal English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

Get words like deception on your lock screen, a few a day, with review that makes them stick.

Download on the App Store Lexfall puts a new word on your home and lock screen through widgets, so you learn without opening an app. Free to download. After a free trial, a subscription unlocks every field. Built for iPhone, iOS 15.1 or later.
QR code that opens Lexfall on the App Store
On a computer?Scan with your iPhone camera.

More law words: Criminal law