different between deceptive vs underhanded

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

Alternative forms

• under-handed

Etymology

under- +? handed

Adjective

underhanded (comparative more underhanded, superlative most underhanded)

1. Done by moving the hand (and arm) from below.
2. Sly, dishonest, corrupt, cheating.

   His underhanded trick backfired and he was disqualified.

3. Insincere; sarcastic.

   An underhanded compliment is actually criticism.

4. Secret; surreptitious.
5. Understaffed.

Synonyms

• (all, except "understaffed"): underhand
• (understaffed): shorthanded

Derived terms

• underhandedly
• underhandedness

Translations

Adverb

underhanded (comparative more underhanded, superlative most underhanded)

1. In an underhanded manner.

Synonyms

• (in an underhanded manner): underhandedly

Translations

Verb

underhanded

1. simple past tense and past participle of underhand

Noun

the underhanded pl (plural only)

1. Devious people, collectively.