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to undeceive

to undeceive

1 9.9
Make someone stop believing something false
  • verb
  • /ˌʌndɪˈsiːv/
translation icon : desengañar
  • He faked a throw in one direction, then lobbed another long one near some pines and watched it sail, Ralph undeceived by the ploy.

Examples

  • "What like a bullet can undeceive!"

    Fiction book (2001)
  • It would pain me unbearably if you were to undeceive me now by telling me that something is amiss.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • Two books have served to undeceive the English reader: the monumental work of Finlay, published in 1856, and the more modern volumes of Mr. Bury, which appeared in 1889.

    Blog text (28)
  • I tried to undeceive him about the true nature of the scam before he invested his money.

  • She felt relieved when her friend managed to undeceive her about the rumors going around.

  • It took a lot of evidence to undeceive the public about the misleading advertisements.

Synonyms

to disillusion
vsto undeceive
18 6.4

To make someone realize that something they believed is not true

is used to free from false belief in general rather than ideals
to disenchant
vsto undeceive
2 7.1

Make someone stop believing an idea that is not true or realistic

is a neutral act of removing false beliefs without emotional focus
to unconvince
vsto undeceive
1 9.0

Make someone stop believing something they used to think

is done by removing misleading information rather than persuasion
to disenthrall
vsto undeceive
  • Archaic
1 9.9

To free someone from control or false ideas

is limited to ending deception and false belief only
disenchanting
vsto undeceive
7.5

Making someone or something seem less special by showing the truth

is focused on removing false belief rather than reducing appeal

Antonyms

270 3.9

To make someone believe something that is not true to get an advantage

87 3.9

Make someone believe something that is not true

How Informed

to undeceive
1 9.9
to enlighten
55 4.8
to inform
1.0

Surface Forms

undeceive infinitive
undeceived past
undeceived past participle
undeceiving present participle
undeceives third person singular

Morphology

undeceive = deceive (transparent) = un + deceive

The verb is formed by adding the productive prefix 'un-' to 'deceive' to reverse the action, so the meaning is directly recoverable by learners.

Etymology

Undeceive is made of the prefix un-, like in undo, meaning 'remove', and deceive, meaning 'to trick or mislead'. So, to undeceive someone is to 'remove' the trick and free them from a false belief.