In some situations, the words dishonest and deceitful are roughly equivalent. However, dishonest implies a willful perversion of truth in order to deceive, cheat, or defraud.

Deception refers to the act of misleading or tricking someone, while deceit refers to the act of intentionally concealing or distorting the truth. While both terms involve dishonesty, they are not interchangeable.

Deceptive refers to something that is misleading or giving a false impression. It can be unintentional or intentional. For example, a product advertisement that exaggerates the benefits of the product can be considered deceptive. On the other hand, deceitful refers to something that is intentionally misleading or dishonest.

Deceit means dishonest behavior meant to trick someone. Deceit often involve telling a lie and/or omitting facts. To deceive is to use deceit; that is, is to cause someone to believe something false, usually to your advantage.

dishonest The press called out the campaign's dishonest tactics. untrustworthy He made the mistake of basing his news story on an untrustworthy source. devious It was a devious plan - but would it work? deceitful She's deeply deceitful and not to be trusted.