embuste

Portuguese

Etymology

Uncertain. Perhaps inherited from Latin impositum according to 1914’s DRAE, of unknown origin according to recent editions.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): (careful pronunciation) /ẽˈbus.t͡ʃi/, (natural pronunciation) /ĩˈbus.t͡ʃi/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): (careful pronunciation) /ẽˈbus.t͡ʃi/, (natural pronunciation) /ĩˈbus.t͡ʃi/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): (careful pronunciation) /ẽˈbuʃ.t͡ʃi/, (natural pronunciation) /ĩˈbuʃ.t͡ʃi/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): (careful pronunciation) /ẽˈbus.te/, (natural pronunciation) /ĩˈbus.te/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ẽˈbuʃ.tɨ/

• Rhymes: (Brazil) -ust͡ʃi, (Portugal) -uʃtɨ
• Hyphenation: em‧bus‧te

Noun

embuste m (plural embustes)

1. a scam or hoax

   Synonyms: ardil, truque

2. (slang) an annoying person
3. (slang) an ugly person

Further reading

• “embuste”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “embuste”, in Dicionário infopédia da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2026
• “embuste”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2026, →ISBN
• “embuste”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /emˈbuste/ [ẽmˈbus.t̪e]
• Rhymes: -uste
• Syllabification: em‧bus‧te

Etymology 1

From Latin impositum according to 1914’s DRAE, of unknown origin according to recent editions.

Noun

embuste m (plural embustes)

1. lie, deception, hoax

   Synonyms: mentira, grupo

   • 1863, Mariano Velázquez De La Cadena, A New Spanish Reader: Consisting of Passages from the Most Approved Authors in Prose and Verse..., page 240:

     Mentira explica sólo la idea de una cosa falsa: embuste, supone además de la falsedad la malicia; porque nadie dice un embuste de buena fe.

     "Mentira" indicates only the idea of something false: embuste implies malice in addition to the falsehood; thus, no-one tells an embuste in good faith.

2. (in the plural) trinkets

Derived terms

• embustear
• embustería
• embustero
• embustir

Etymology 2

Verb

embuste

1. inflection of embustir:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “embuste”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025