deceptive: likely to deceive, misleading deceptively adv. deceptiveness n Appearances are deceptive The newspapers promised not to run deceptive ads in the future The company was charged with deceptive advertising for a number of products The play is also an observation about the deceptive nature of appearancesdeceptive: likely to deceive; misleading deceptively adv. deceptiveness n. • Appearances are deceptive. • The newspapers promised not to run deceptive ads in the future. • The company was charged with deceptive advertising for a number of products. • The play is also an observation about the deceptive nature of appearances