Tending to deceive or mislead; characterized by or involving deception; deceptive.
From deception + -ious (adjective suffix, Latin origin). This archaic or literary variant of 'deceptive' follows an older pattern of English adjective formation from Latin roots.
This is an old-fashioned alternative to 'deceptive,' showing how English loved making synonyms with different suffixes—like having 'beautiful,' 'beauteous,' and 'beautified' all competing for the same meaning.
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