What's the difference between deceitful and legerdemain?

Deceitful


Definition:

  • (a.) Full of, or characterized by, deceit; serving to mislead or insnare; trickish; fraudulent; cheating; insincere.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) It is of course important that migrants are not scapegoated; but such pious deceit from comfortable middle-class commentators can only provoke the unemployed, the low-paid and the homeless.
  • (2) Gillon rejects each of these arguments, contending that avoiding deceit is a basic moral norm that can be defended from utilitarian as well as deontological points of view.
  • (3) They received more than 25,000 applications, prompting fury from fans, and Greater Manchester police said yesterday they were exploring whether any action could be taken against people who had deceitfully applied for tickets .
  • (4) In return for the biggest bailout in global financial history – rescue funds from the EU and IMF amounting to €240bn (£188bn) – it was hoped that old mentalities would change and a nation humbled by near-bankruptcy would finally dump its culture of deceit.
  • (5) Their evolution often is deceitful and severe problems of differential diagnosis with others pathological infantile states arise.
  • (6) It would only apply to adults over 18 who were working without coercion, deceit or violence.
  • (7) The renewable energy company Ecotricity is giving £250,000 to the Labour party, and has accused the government of being deceitful on climate and energy policy.
  • (8) The charges announced today describe a securities fraud trifecta of lies, deceit, and greed.
  • (9) The City Fathers, who drive through an abandoned city to their glass towers, who were not impacted but enjoyed the tax dollars and developments of downtown; and Freddie Gray’s community, full of holes and deceit and poverty.
  • (10) Eric Schneiderman has accused Barclays of “a systematic pattern of fraud and deceit” by operating its dark pool to favour high-frequency traders.
  • (11) Fidel called President Obama's conference remarks ' deceitful, demagogic and ambiguous ,'" a cable said.
  • (12) His passing is sweet and it is really interesting how deceitful he can be: Rodríguez can look absent from the game but can pounce and catch his markers unaware.
  • (13) In a campaign founded on deceit and incompetence, this might be the least galling thing Trump and company have done.
  • (14) If you think that such deceits are the normal stuff of politics, consider the story's sequel.
  • (15) Sterling accused Johnson, a basketball legend turned investor and one of the US's most beloved African Americans, of deceitfulness and promiscuity.
  • (16) But I’m worried because the other side is cunning, deceitful and back-stabbing.
  • (17) Hancock and Bianca Rinehart allege their mother acted "deceitfully" and with "gross dishonesty" in her dealings with the trust, set up in 1988 by her father, Lang Hancock, with her children as the beneficiaries.
  • (18) From the 10-year-old boy assaulted when he met Jimmy Savile outside a hotel to ask for an autograph, to the many children abused in their schools after writing to Jim'll Fix It, the victims of one of the country's most prolific, manipulative and deceitful paedophiles, had one thing in common; their absolute vulnerability.
  • (19) Reprising the theme that guided him and George Bush through the deceit and carnage of the "war on terror", the former prime minister took his crusade against "Islamism" on to a new plane.
  • (20) Woody Allen has struck back against allegations he molested Dylan Farrow in a blistering reply that accuses Mia Farrow of spite, deceit and hatefulness.

Legerdemain


Definition:

  • (n.) Sleight of hand; a trick of sleight of hand; hence, any artful deception or trick.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The eagle-eyed will note that Shakespeare's birthday is traditionally celebrated on the 23rd, St George's Day (a nice piece of patriotic legerdemain); but in 2012 the 23rd falls on a Monday.