Legal Definitions - dissemble

The term dissemble refers to the act of hiding one's true motives, feelings, or facts by creating a false appearance or making misleading statements. It involves a deliberate act of deception to conceal the truth, often to avoid blame, scrutiny, or to gain an advantage.

Here are some examples to illustrate this concept:

• Imagine a company executive who, during a quarterly earnings call, tells investors that the company's new product line is performing "exceptionally well" and "exceeding expectations." However, internal sales reports clearly show the product is struggling significantly and failing to meet even modest targets. The executive is dissembling by presenting a misleadingly positive image of the product's performance, intentionally concealing the negative reality to maintain investor confidence and stock value.

• Consider a witness in a police investigation who is asked about their whereabouts on the night a crime occurred. Instead of providing a direct account, the witness offers vague, contradictory statements about being "out and about" or "running errands," and avoids making eye contact. This individual is dissembling by providing evasive and unclear information, attempting to obscure their true activities or connections to the event without directly lying.

• Suppose a student is confronted by their professor about suspected plagiarism on an assignment. Rather than admitting to using uncredited sources, the student claims their computer malfunctioned, causing formatting errors, or that a friend "helped" them with research, implying the friend might have inadvertently included plagiarized material. The student is dissembling by fabricating excuses and shifting blame to avoid confessing to the academic dishonesty.