hoaxed; hoaxing; hoaxes
: to trick into believing or accepting as genuine something false and often preposterous
were hoaxed by the website
hoaxer
noun
1
: an act intended to trick or dupe : imposture
the victim of a cruel hoax
assumed the bomb threat was just a hoax
2
: something accepted or established by fraud or fabrication
believes the Loch Ness Monster is a hoax
a literary hoax
Examples of hoax in a Sentence
Verb
a skilled forger who hoaxed the art world into believing that the paintings were long-lost Vermeers
Noun
The bomb threat is probably a hoax, but we should still evacuate the building.
She was the victim of a cruel hoax.
Recent Examples on the Web
Ali Breland, The Atlantic, 10 June 2024
Such criticism has led some police to respond more aggressively to hoax school shooting calls.
—Ashley Belanger, Ars Technica, 5 Oct. 2023
Armond White, National Review, 27 June 2025
The Balloon Boy hoax would seem to have all the right elements for a revisitation: a hapless, alleged victim (6-year-old Falcon Heene), sky-high danger (the balloon reached about 7,000 feet), daringly duplicitous parents (Richard and Mayumi Heene), and a national profile that gripped audiences.
—John Wenzel, Denver Post, 23 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for hoax
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Verb
Doxxed addresses have led to hoax 911 calls that prompted SWAT teams to raid victims’ homes.
—Ali Breland, The Atlantic, 10 June 2024
Such criticism has led some police to respond more aggressively to hoax school shooting calls.
—Ashley Belanger, Ars Technica, 5 Oct. 2023
Noun
The hoax of further democratizing what was always implicitly democratic relies on sham logic.
—Armond White, National Review, 27 June 2025
The Balloon Boy hoax would seem to have all the right elements for a revisitation: a hapless, alleged victim (6-year-old Falcon Heene), sky-high danger (the balloon reached about 7,000 feet), daringly duplicitous parents (Richard and Mayumi Heene), and a national profile that gripped audiences.
—John Wenzel, Denver Post, 23 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for hoax
Cite this Entry
“Hoax.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hoax. Accessed 6 Jul. 2025.
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