Why “dissembler” is a great word
DISSEMBLER — [Noun] A person who conceals their true motives, feelings, or beliefs under a false appearance. From the verb dissemble (to conceal one's true motives) + the agentive suffix -er. Dissemble is a modification of earlier dissimuler, from Middle English dissimulour, ultimately from the Latin dissimulāre (to disguise, conceal). Unlike a hypocrite, whose mask is one of virtue, or a liar, whose tool is the false statement, a dissembler operates in the broader theater of demeanor—a performer of the plausible omission and the artfully arranged silence. It is the politician's calibrated pause, the courtier whose smile never reaches his eyes, the diplomat speaking peace while preparing for war—a mastery not of falsehood, but of maintaining an entire separate climate around the self, where the most profound deceptions are in the self curated for the world's consumption.