From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishdeceive yourselfdeceive yourselfPRETENDto refuse to believe that something is true because the truth is unpleasant I thought she loved me, but I was deceiving myself.deceive yourself that He didn’t deceive himself that he and Ruth could remain friends. → deceive
Examples from the Corpus
deceive yourself• I loved her, but I never deceived myself.• Many parents deceive themselves about their children's behavior.• If a man dissemble, deceive, he deceives himself, and goes out of acquaintance with his own being.• It was no use deceiving herself any longer.• Was she not indeed, not only trapping herself, but deceiving herself, being, to herself, a traitor?• She deceives herself more than she deceives anyone else.• Not for a moment had she been able to deceive herself that she was anything but bad, truly bad.• He could almost deceive himself that she was confiding in him. 