fake out

verb

faked out; faking out; fakes out

transitive verb

: to deliberately mislead : fool, trick

Synonyms

• bamboozle
• beguile
• bluff
• buffalo
• burn
• catch
• con
• cozen
• deceive
• delude
• dupe
• fool
• gaff
• gammon
• gull
• have
• have on [chiefly British]
• hoax
• hoodwink
• hornswoggle
• humbug
• juggle
• misguide
• misinform
• mislead
• snooker
• snow
• spoof
• string along
• suck in
• sucker
• take in
• trick

Examples of fake out in a Sentence

my friends faked me out for a whole day, letting me think that they had forgotten my birthday

used a quick between-the-legs dribble to fake out the flat-footed defender

Recent Examples on the Web

Bilodeau faked out Bittle while driving for a dunk only to have his shot blocked by point guard Keeshawn Barthelemy. —Ben Bolch, Los Angeles Times, 9 Dec. 2024

Jokic faked out multiple Cavs defenders in transition by turning his head toward an open Murray on the left wing, only to fire a no-look pass to Christian Braun under the basket. —Bennett Durando, The Denver Post, 6 Dec. 2024

Torre faked out left back Josh Wildon-Esbrand and rocketed his shot into the back of the net to give the Spanish side the lead heading into halftime. —Kyle Foley, Orlando Sentinel, 31 July 2024

The discography deep-dive portion of the set list kicked off with something of a fake out. —Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 20 Mar. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1949, in the meaning defined above