different between deceptive vs sham

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?æm/
• Rhymes: -æm

Etymology 1

Probably a dialectal form of shame.

Adjective

sham

1. Intended to deceive; false.

2. counterfeit; unreal
   • 1881, Benjamin Jowett, Thucydides

     They scorned the sham independence proffered to them by the Athenians.

Synonyms

• mock
• See also Thesaurus:fake

Antonyms

• genuine
• sincere
• real

Derived terms

• shammish

Translations

Noun

sham (countable and uncountable, plural shams)

1. A fake; an imitation that purports to be genuine.

2. Trickery, hoaxing.

3. A false front, or removable ornamental covering.
4. A decorative cover for a pillow.

Derived terms

• shamateur

Translations

See also

• pillow sham

Verb

sham (third-person singular simple present shams, present participle shamming, simple past and past participle shammed)

1. To deceive, cheat, lie.
2. To obtrude by fraud or imposition.
3. To assume the manner and character of; to imitate; to ape; to feign.

Translations

Etymology 2

Noun

sham (uncountable)

1. (slang) Champagne.
   • (Can we find and add a quotation of William Makepeace Thackeray to this entry?)

     So I orders a bottle, as if for myself; and, 'Ma'am,' says I, 'will you take a glass of Sham — just one?'

Further reading

• sham in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• sham in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• sham at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• AMHS, HMAS, HSAM, Hams, MASH, MHAs, MSHA, Mahs, Mash, SAHM, Sahm, hams, mash

Karakalpak

Etymology

From Arabic ????

Noun

sham

1. candle

Uzbek

Etymology

From Arabic ????

Noun

sham (plural shamlar)

1. candle