the quality of being fraudulent
"His entire business plan was built on deceit, leaving investors to wonder how he could have convinced them otherwise."
a misleading falsehood
"The detective realized that his suspect's entire alibi was built on deceit, a carefully crafted lie designed to mislead everyone in the room."
the act of deceiving
"The detective realized that his entire investigation was built on deceit when he found out the witness had never actually seen the suspect."
An act or practice intended to deceive; a trick.
"The sudden drop in stock prices was clearly just a deceit designed to make investors panic and sell their shares at the bottom."