fake out

verb

Definition of fake outnext
1
as in to trick
to cause to believe what is untrue my friends faked me out for a whole day, letting me think that they had forgotten my birthday

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to evade
to elude (an opponent in a sports contest) by making a deceptive or agile movement used a quick between-the-legs dribble to fake out the flat-footed defender

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of fake out Asked about the fake out, Mara grinned. — Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 21 Mar. 2026 After the match, Kidd and Finlay, along with Clark Connors, attack Cassidy and Allin until Roderick Strong walks down to the ring, fakes out The Dogs and helps Cassidy and Allin get retribution. — Rob Wolkenbrod, Forbes.com, 12 Mar. 2026 In the 80th minute, Denkey received an assist from Ender Echenique, faking out goalkeeper Lucas Hoyos before finishing with his left foot between a pair of defenders. — ABC News, 21 Feb. 2026 Drake preferred to fake out a defender and run right by them. — Diamond Vences, Charlotte Observer, 3 Feb. 2026 See All Example Sentences for fake out
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fake out
  1. trick
  2. evade
  3. fool
  4. fake
  5. deceive
  6. string along
  7. suck in
Verb
  • That makes sense when a malicious app tricks you into installing it.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 23 Oct. 2026
  • Federal prosecutors say Bailey and an associate tricked people out of $2 million from 2018 to 2022.
    — AJ Willingham, AJC.com, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of trick
Verb
  • Europe hopes to build the euro into an alternative global currency to evade the dollar’s iron grip.
    — Henry Farrell, Foreign Affairs, 20 Oct. 2026
  • Tel Aviv — At least 40 ultra-Orthodox Jewish men were arrested upon arriving Tuesday morning at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport on suspicion of attempting to evade the country's military draft, the Israel Defense Forces said.
    — Dov Lieber, CBS News, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of evade
Verb
  • The Pleiades open star cluster Don't be fooled by their beauty; the blue-white stars of the Pleiades are dripping in spooky lore.
    — Anthony Wood, Space.com, 24 Oct. 2026
  • Chiefs-Seahawks game prediction Don’t be fooled be the records.
    — Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of fool
Verb
  • The mission involved faking a plane crash and planting documents on a dead body, convincing Hitler to move thousands of troops.
    — Courtney Cole, CBS News, 21 Oct. 2026
  • Prosecutors accused them of using AI to fake voices and images of Vietnamese leaders, illustrating how prosecutions can target political criticism.
    — Jordi Calvet-Bademunt, The Conversation, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of fake
Verb
  • The evidence does not establish that Claude deliberately set out to deceive investigators.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 19 Oct. 2026
  • Until Holmes, the characters in Oppenheim’s documentaries had been relative unknowns — people with far less incentive to deceive him.
    — Alex Barasch, Vulture, 19 Oct. 2026
Definition of deceive
Verb
  • For one thing, the aircraft was an all-electric number powered by a dozen electric motors strung along the leading edge of the wing.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 3 Sep. 2026
  • But by Taiwan’s next presidential election in 2028, 12 years will have passed since that strategy was last tested—and the gamble is whether Xi can still be strung along.
    — Charlie Campbell, Time, 11 Aug. 2026
Definition of string along
Verb
  • Once the machine has sucked in the shade-giving limbs and age-ringed trunk, a new development rises from the mulch.
    — Charlotte Observer, Charlotte Observer, 16 Oct. 2026
  • One high-energy neutrino came from a blazar – a supermassive black hole sucking in matter from its host galaxy and spewing some of it into a jet thousands of light-years long and pointed straight at Earth.
    — Tyce DeYoung, The Conversation, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of suck in

Browse Nearby Words

faked out
fake out
faker
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Cite this Entry

“Fake out.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fake%20out. Accessed 25 Oct. 2026.

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