Differences among deceit, deception, swindle, fraud

Question

The today's word of the day gave me some food for thought about the diversity of words that the English language has for the word "engañ?". As Chris mentions in his thread, some of them are "deceit, deception, swindle, fraud etc".

My question is: Are these English words used interchangeably?

Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

Yes and no, ianta. You've asked a brilliant question. I will give you a personal opinion, that of a non-native, but well-read English speaker: To me swindle and fraud are horrible, they are financial operations , such as swindling all the pensioners out of their pensions.

Deceit and deception can apply to just being dishonest, even in a minor way, such as a child stealing 5 pence and lying about it afterwards. A disagreeable trait, but not on the scale of a swindle, although we can probably assume that the swindler is deceitful.

To make typos is not deceitful, only clumsy and boring. - annierats, Jan 18, 2012

Thank you very much Annie, understood:) - ianta, Jan 18, 2012

Gracias, Ianta, there may be more to it, to be honest. - annierats, Jan 18, 2012

I learnt the words "swindle" and "deception" just today, I only knew "deceit and fraud". - ianta, Jan 18, 2012

Answer 2

Below are the four definitions from www.dictionary.com I hope this helps.

fraud ? ?[frawd] Show IPA noun 1. deceit, trickery, sharp practice, or breach of confidence, perpetrated for profit or to gain some unfair or dishonest advantage. 2. a particular instance of such deceit or trickery: mail fraud; election frauds. 3. any deception, trickery, or humbug: That diet book is a fraud and a waste of time. 4. a person who makes deceitful pretenses; sham; poseur.

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de·ceit ? ?[dih-seet] Show IPA noun 1. the act or practice of deceiving; concealment or distortion of the truth for the purpose of misleading; duplicity; fraud; cheating: Once she exposed their deceit, no one ever trusted them again. 2. an act or device intended to deceive; trick; stratagem. 3. the quality of being deceitful; duplicity; falseness: a man full of deceit.

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de·cep·tion ? ?[dih-sep-shuhn] Show IPA noun 1. the act of deceiving; the state of being deceived. 2. something that deceives or is intended to deceive; fraud; artifice.

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swin·dle ? ?[swin-dl] Show IPA verb, -dled, -dling, noun verb (used with object) 1. to cheat (a person, business, etc.) out of money or other assets. 2. to obtain by fraud or deceit.

Thank you very much Gringo:) - ianta, Jan 18, 2012

I understand that they are synonyms, and fraud has to do with breaking the law. - ianta, Jan 18, 2012

I believe that Fruad is the only one of these words that carries a legal definition, ie. is a form of crime. The others may be considered element attributing to fraud. - gringojrf, Jan 18, 2012

Answer 3

you can use fraude with checks and banking stuff or commericial fraud just like in English, ( identity or robo de identidad) identity theft

Thank you for your answer Tuscantory. - ianta, Jan 18, 2012

Answer 4

to scam someone is estafar, I know and you already know engañar.