as in joking
marked by or expressive of mild or good-natured teasing
ribbed him with fooling comments about how much his hair had grayed
Synonyms & Similar Words
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as in deception
Synonyms & Similar Words
1
as in tricking
to cause to believe what is untrue
I fooled him into thinking that we were driving to the store, not to his surprise birthday party
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in kidding
to make jokes
an edgy comedian fooling with an appreciative college audience
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Recent Examples of fooling
Marissa C. Rhodes / Made By History, TIME, 8 Oct. 2024
Verb
Feminist activism wasn’t based on fooling women to give up something great.
—Marissa C. Rhodes / Made By History, TIME, 8 Oct. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fooling
Noun
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The series is inspired by the book The Woman Who Fooled the World by journalists Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano, who helped uncover the details of Gibson's deception.Yaakov Katz, Newsweek, 27 Nov. 2024
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National Socialism, with its unscrupulous methods of deception, took care not to show how radical its aims were until the world was inured to them.Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 25 Nov. 2024
Verb
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The caption read in joking reference to the upcoming spooky holiday.Escher Walcott, People.com, 16 Oct. 2024
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Of course, Lowe was only joking.David Chiu, Forbes, 12 Oct. 2024
Noun
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Agatha had put Ralph under a spell, forcing him to play Wanda’s brother Pietro in her ruse to steal Wanda’s dark magic.Harrison Richlin, IndieWire, 19 Oct. 2024
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Speaking of which, does anyone understand why some elaborate ruse had to be pulled to get Andy’s SOID cube back?Dalton Ross, EW.com, 10 Oct. 2024
Verb
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In the complaint, Michel blames Hill for mismanaging and deceiving her bandmates about the tour’s finances.SPIN Staff, SPIN, 1 Oct. 2024
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McLaughlin is accused of deceiving dog owners and rescue groups nationwide to acquire animals needing specialized care, according to police.Lauren De Young, The Arizona Republic, 1 Oct. 2024
Noun
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Phishing—defined as fraudulent activities that attempt to obtain sensitive information through trickery via emails or websites—is a rampant threat during the holiday season.Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 29 Nov. 2024
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When the play reaches its climax, a moment of haunted stage trickery that’s supposed to thrill and engage us ends up feeling ungrounded and, in its aftermath, bizarrely underacknowledged.Sara Holdren, Vulture, 21 Nov. 2024
Noun
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But as the film goes on, those idiosyncrasies reveal themselves to be more like a blend of subterfuge and pleasure, another way for Macrinus to hide his intentions behind a veil.Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 22 Nov. 2024
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Putin’s ties to social media What Putin lacks as a military leader, the former KGB secret agent makes up for in subterfuge.Christiaan Hetzner, Fortune, 25 Oct. 2024
Noun
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Meanwhile, Tori and Rachel form a tentative alliance, planning to exert their feminine wiles over their respective male allies to keep each other safe.Emma Sharpe, Vulture, 23 Oct. 2024
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For Chandler, a pink bunny suit costume activates his sensitive nature, while Phoebe deals with the wiles of her evil twin Ursula.Cady Lang, TIME, 21 Oct. 2024
Noun
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Not according to Hinch and Our Man Petzold, who reports the strategy is part of the Tigers’ plan to maximize the effectiveness of their opener/bulk-relief stratagem.Ryan Ford, Detroit Free Press, 23 Sep. 2024
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Among the stratagems employed by PBMs to boost profits, the FTC says, is steering health plans and patients to their own affiliated pharmacy chains.Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 11 July 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near fooling
Cite this Entry
“Fooling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fooling. Accessed 3 Dec. 2024.
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