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When you employ artifice, you use clever tricks and cunning to deceive someone.
If someone beguiles you, you are charmed by and attracted to them, which may make it easy for them to trick or deceive you as well.
Candor is the quality of being honest and open in speech or action.
If you employ chicanery, you are devising and carrying out clever plans and trickery to cheat and deceive people.
Something that is delusive deceives you by giving a false belief about yourself or the situation you are in.
Someone who is disingenuous is not straightforward or is dishonest in what they say or do.
If you accuse someone of duplicity, you think that they are dishonest and are intending to trick you.
A fallacy is an idea or belief that is false.
A figurehead in an organization is the apparent authority or head in name only—the real power lies somewhere else.
If something is gilded, it has been deceptively given a more attractive appearance than it normally possesses; a very thin layer of gold often covers something gilded.
Something illusory appears real or possible; in fact, it is neither.
Something that is inconspicuous does not attract attention and is not easily seen or noticed because it is small or ordinary.
People who are ingenuous are excessively trusting and believe almost everything that people tell them, especially because they have not had much life experience.
Something that is latent, such as an undiscovered talent or undiagnosed disease, exists but is not active or has not developed at the moment—it may develop or become active in the future.
A machination is a secretive plan or clever plot that is carefully designed to control events or people.
A mendacious person does not tell the truth.
An overt act is not hidden or secret but is done in an open and public way.
A patent situation is one that is wide open and unconcealed; it is both evident and obvious.
If you prevaricate, you avoid giving a direct or honest answer, usually because you want to hide the truth or want to delay or avoid making a hard decision.
Probity is very moral and honest behavior.
The salient qualities of an issue or feature are those that are most important and noticeable.
Something that is specious seems to be good, sound, or correct but is actually wrong or fake.
If you employ subterfuge, you use a secret plan or action to get what you want by outwardly doing one thing that cleverly hides your true intentions.
A surreptitious deed is done secretly to avoid bringing any attention to it.
A veneer is a thin layer, such as a thin sheet of expensive wood over a cheaper type of wood that gives a false appearance of higher quality; a person can also put forth a false front or veneer.
The veracity of something is its truthfulness.
Verisimilitude is something’s authenticity or appearance of being real or true.
The verity of something is the truth or reality of it.
Wiles are clever tricks or cunning schemes that are used to persuade someone to do what you want.
Adj.
ostensible
o-STEN-suh-buhl
Context
My parents believed my ostensible statement that I was going to the library to study, but my real reason was to meet my friend Fran there. I then told Fran an ostensible or alleged truth that I wanted to take her out to eat at Charlie’s, but the real reason was that I wanted to see my buddy Joe on the way. I gave Joe the supposed or ostensible reason that I wanted to see how he was doing, but the actual reason was that I wanted to borrow his cool new car to make Ronnie jealous, whose house we would pass on our way out to eat.
Quiz:Try again!
What is an example of an ostensible purpose for something?
Not telling anyone why you are leaving your job because you want it kept a secret.
Writing a note so that your mom knows exactly where you will be after school.
Stating that you are going to the store to get milk when you really want to buy a candy bar.
Tense So Not Able Although I told my boss that I was tense and so needed to rest, that was nothing but an ostensible excuse for not being able to complete the work on time because I wanted to spend my time social networking instead.
Examples
The game’s system of governance had become a management expert’s nightmare, with the ostensible boss—the commissioner—at the bottom of an inverted pyramid, crushed under the various whims of the 26 team owners.
—
Sports Illustrated
The ostensible rationale is that people do not understand nutrition, that educating them will drive up demand for healthier foods, and that the industry will be happy to meet that demand. The hidden rationale is that such programs will have little impact, allowing [the food] industry to do business as usual.
—
Los Angeles Times
The ostensible question at hand was what the United Nations' highest lawmaking body should do about it, a subject on which the members differed profoundly. But mid-sentence in Butler's presentation, a senior official named Benon Sevan burst in to whisper in Annan's ear.
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The Washington Post
The ostensible problem this measure would solve is the recent spike in interest rates on "jumbo" home loans—mortgages larger than the current Fannie-Freddie cap of $417,000.
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The Washington Post
An ostensible reason is reasonably or plausibly “capable of being stretched out towards” a listener as a handy excuse for doing something other than what you say you are going to do, although it appears that you are doing it anyway.
Word Theater
Salinger (2013) A journal ostensibly written by the famous author JD Salinger.
The panel shows a small video clip of either the word in actual use or a scene that represents the meaning of a word. This not only breaks up the monotony of studying words but also provides another avenue to strengthen word meaning. Enjoy!
