Roget's Thesaurus by Peter Mark Roget

farce. irony; half truth, white lie, pious fraud; mental reservation &c (concealment) 528. pretense, pretext; false plea &c 617; subterfuge, evasion, shift, shuffle, make-believe; sham &c (deception) 545. profession, empty words; Judas kiss &c (hypocrisy) 544; disguise &c (mask) 530. V. have a false meaning. Adj. untrue, false, phony, trumped up; void of foundation, without- foundation; fictive, far from the truth, false as dicer's oaths; unfounded, ben trovato[It], invented, fabulous, fabricated, forged; fictitious, factitious, supposititious, surreptitious; elusory[obs3], illusory; ironical; soi-disant &c (misnamed) 565[Fr]. Phr. se non e vero e ben trovato[It]; "where none is meant that meets the ear"[Milton]. #547. Dupe.—N. dupe, gull, gudgeon, gobemouche[obs3], cull*, cully[obs3], victim, pigeon, April fool[obs3]; jay*, sucker*; laughingstock &c 857; Cyclops, simple Simon, flat; greenhorn; fool &c 501; puppet, cat's paw. V. be deceived &c 545, be the dupe of; fall into a trap; swallow the bait, nibble at the bait; bite, catch a Tartar. Adj. credulous &c 486; mistaken &c. (error) 495. #548. Deceiver.—N. deceiver &c (deceive &c 545); dissembler, hypocrite; sophist, Pharisee, Jesuit, Mawworm[obs3], Pecksniff, Joseph Surface, Tartufe[obs3], Janus; serpent, snake in the grass, cockatrice, Judas, wolf in sheep's clothing; jilt; shuffler|!, stool pigeon. liar &c (lie &c 544); story-teller, perjurer, false witness, menteur a triple etage[Fr], Scapin[obs3]; bunko steerer* [U.S.], carpetbagger* [U.S.], capper* [U.S.], faker, fraud, four flusher*, horse coper[obs3], ringer*, spieler[obs3], straw bidder [U.S.]. imposter, pretender, soi-disant[Fr], humbug; adventurer; Cagliostro, Fernam Mendez Pinto; ass in lion's skin &c (bungler) 701; actor &c (stage player) 599. quack, charlatan, mountebank, saltimbanco[obs3], saltimbanque[obs3], empiric, quacksalver, medicaster[obs3], Rosicrucian, gypsy; man of straw. conjuror, juggler, trickster, prestidigitator, jockey; crimp, decoy, decoy duck; rogue, knave, cheat; swindler &c (thief) 792; jobber. Phr. "saint abroad and a devil at home" [Bunyan]. #549. Exaggeration.—N. exaggeration; expansion &c 194; hyperbole, stretch, strain, coloring; high coloring, caricature, caricatura[obs3]; extravagance &c. (nonsense) 497; Baron Munchausen; men in buckram, yarn, fringe, embroidery, traveler's tale; fish story, gooseberry* storm in a teacup; much ado about nothing &c (overestimation) 482; puff, puffery &c (boasting) 884; rant &c (turgescence) 577[obs3]. figure of speech, facon de parler[Fr]; stretch of fancy, stretch of the imagination; flight of fancy &c (imagination) 515. false coloring &c (falsehood) 544; aggravation &c. 835. V. exaggerate, magnify, pile up, aggravate; amplify &c (expand) 194; overestimate &c 482; hyperbolize; overcharge, overstate, overdraw, overlay, overshoot the mark, overpraise; make over much, over the most of; strain, strain over a point; stretch, stretch a point; go great lengths; spin a long yarn; draw with a longbow, shoot with a longbow; deal in the marvelous. out-Herod Herod, run riot, talk at random. heighten, overcolor[obs3]; color highly, color too highly; broder[obs3]; flourish; color &c. (misrepresent) 544; puff &c (boast) 884. Adj. exaggerated &c. v.; overwrought; bombastic &c. (grandiloquent) 577; hyperbolical[obs3], on stilts; fabulous, extravagant, preposterous, egregious, outre[Fr], highflying[obs3]. Adv. hyperbolically &c adj. Phr. excitabat enim fluctus in simpulo [Lat][Cicero]. SECTION III. MEANS OF COMMUNICATING IDEAS