Category: vocabulary

“tending to lead astray, deceptive,” 1630s, present-participle adjective from mislead. Related: Misleadingly.

early 15c., decepcioun, “act of misleading, a lie, a falsehood,” from Old French déception (13c., decepcion) or directly from Late Latin deceptionem (nominative deceptio) “a deceiving,” noun of state or action from past-participle stem of Latin decipere “to ensnare, take in, beguile, cheat,” from de “from” or pejorative (see de-) + capere “to take,” from PIE root *kap- “to grasp.”

From mid-15c. as “state of being deceived; error, mistake;” from 1794 as “artifice, cheat, that which deceives.”

mid-14c., “criminal deception” (mid-13c. in Anglo-Latin); from Old French fraude “deception, fraud” (13c.), from Latin fraudem (nominative fraus) “a cheating, deceit,” of persons “a cheater, deceiver,” of uncertain origin. Connections have been proposed to Sanskrit dhruti- “deception; error.”

Meaning “a fraudulent production, something intended to deceive” is from 1650s. The meaning “impostor, deceiver, pretender; humbug” is attested from 1850. Pious fraud (1560s) is properly “deception practiced for the sake of what is deemed a good purpose;” colloquially used as “person who talks piously but is not pious at heart.”

early 15c., “ability to contain; size, extent;” also “ability” in a legal, moral, or intellectual sense, from Old French capacité “ability to hold” (15c.), from Latin capacitatem (nominative capacitas) “breadth, capacity, capability of holding much,” noun of state from capax (genitive capacis) “able to hold much,” from capere “to take,” from PIE root *kap- “to grasp.”

Sense of “power to store electricity” is from 1777; industrial sense of “ability to produce” is from 1931. Meaning “power of containing a certain quantity” is from 1885, hence “largest audience a place can hold” (1908).

mid-13c., “happiness,” also “prosperity in abundance of possessions or riches,” from Middle English wele “well-being” (see weal (n.1)) on analogy of health.

early 15c., situacioun, “place, position, or location,” from Old French situacion or directly from Medieval Latin situationem (nominative situatio) “a position, situation,” noun of action from past-participle stem of situare “to place, locate,” from Latin situs “a place, position” (from PIE root *tkei- “to settle, dwell, be home”). Meaning “state of affairs” is from 1710; meaning “employment post” is from 1803.

late 14c., “to bring to mind by description,” also “to symbolize, serve as a sign or symbol of; serve as the type or embodiment of;” from Old French representer “present, show, portray” (12c.), from Latin repraesentare “make present, set in view, show, exhibit, display,” from re-, intensive prefix (see re-), + praesentare “to present,” literally “to place before,” from praesens) “present, at hand, in sight; immediate; prompt, instant; contemporary,” from present participle of præesse “be before (someone or something), be at hand,” from prae- “before” (see pre-) + esse “to be” (from PIE root *es- “to be”). Legislative sense is attested from 1650s. Related: Represented; representing.

mid-15c., “wishing to do good, well-disposed, kindly,” from Old French benivolent and directly from Latin benevolentem (nominative benevolens) “wishing (someone) well, benevolent,” related to benevolentia “good feeling,” from bene “well” (see bene-) + volantem (nominative volens) present participle of velle “to wish” (see will (v.)). Related: Benevolently.

“an advertisement broadcast on radio or TV,” 1935, from commercial (adj.). Earlier as a noun it was short for commercial traveler (1855).

1680s, “engaging in trade,” from commerce + -al (1). Meaning “done for the sake of financial profit” (of art, etc.), “prepared for the market or as an article of trade” is from 1871. Meaning “paid for by advertisements” (in reference to radio, TV, etc.) is from 1932. Related: Commercially.