different between deceptive vs astute

English

Etymology

From Middle French déceptif, from Latin d?cept?vus, from d?cipi? (“I deceive”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d?.?s?p.t?v/

Adjective

deceptive (comparative more deceptive, superlative most deceptive)

1. Likely or attempting to deceive.

   Synonym: misleading

   • 1653, John Bulwer, Anthropometamorphosis, London: William Hunt, Scene 24, p. 521,^[1]

     […] others declare that no Creature can be made or transmuted into a better or worse, or transformed into another species […] and Martinus Delrio the Jesuit accounts this degeneration of Man into a Beast to be an illusion, deceptive and repugnant to Nature;

   • 1789, Thomas Holcroft (translator), The History of My Own Times by Frederick the Great, London: G.G.J. and J. Robinson, Part 1, Chapter 12, p. 163,^[2]

     […] at the opening of the campaign, the French, after various deceptive attempts on different places, suddenly invested Tournay.

   • 1846, Richard Chenevix Trench, Notes on the Miracles of Our Lord, London: John W. Parker, 2nd ed., 1847, Preliminary Essay, Chapter 2, p. 10,^[3]

     language altogether deceptive, and hiding the deeper reality from our eyes

   • 1978, Susan Sontag, Illness as Metaphor, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Chapter 2, p. 13,^[4]

     […] it is characteristic of TB that many of its symptoms are deceptive—liveliness that comes from enervation, rosy cheeks that look like a sign of health but come from fever—and an upsurge of vitality may be a sign of approaching death.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:deceptive

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

English

Etymology

Latin ast?tus, from astus (“craft”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?s?tju?t/
• Rhymes: -u?t

Adjective

astute (comparative astuter, superlative astutest)

1. Quickly and critically discerning.
2. Shrewd or crafty.
   • 2014, A teacher, "Choosing a primary school: a teacher's guide for parents", The Guardian, 23 September 2014:

     The best headteachers are like submarine captains – cool-headed, astute decision-makers – who trust their colleagues and surroundings to indicate where their ship is headed.

Synonyms

• crafty, shrewd, wily

Derived terms

• astutely
• astuteness

Translations

Anagrams

• statue

Estonian

Verb

astute

1. Second-person plural present form of astuma.

Italian

Adjective

astute

1. feminine plural of astuto

Anagrams

• statue

Latin

Adverb

ast?t? (comparative ast?tius, superlative ast?tissim?)

1. craftily, cunningly

References

• astute in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• astute in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• astute in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette