Dictionary Definition
deceitfulness n : the quality of being crafty
[syn: craftiness,
guile]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Noun
- The state or quality of being deceitful.
- 1839, Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, ch. 42,
- 'This is the hend, is it, of all my bearing with her deceitfulness, her lowness, her falseness, her laying herself out to catch the admiration of vulgar minds . . .'
- 1903, Andy Adams, The Log of a Cowboy: A Narrative of the Old
Trail Days, ch. 20 "A Moonlight Drive",
- The lanterns both rear and forward being always in sight, I was as much at sea as any one as to the length of the herd, knowing the deceitfulness of distance of campfires and other lights by night.
- 1839, Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, ch. 42,
References
- Webster 1913
- Dictionary.com