hoax

verb

Save Word

\ ˈhōks

hoaxed; hoaxing; hoaxes

Definition of hoax

(Entry 1 of 2)

transitive verb

: to trick into believing or accepting as genuine something false and often preposterous were hoaxed by the website

hoax

noun

Definition of hoax (Entry 2 of 2)

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

Other Words from hoax Synonyms & Antonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about hoax

Keep scrolling for more

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: Verb False news articles were deliberately spread across our feeds to hoax us. — Joanna Stern, WSJ, "Facebook Portal Non-Review: Why I Didn’t Put Facebook’s Camera in My Home," 8 Nov. 2018 The effort, dubbed #ThinkBeforeYouPost, reminds would-be pranksters that hoax threats are not a joke and could result in federal or state charges. — Karen Kucher, sandiegouniontribune.com, "FBI launches campaign to 'think before you post' hoax threats," 10 June 2018 Recent Examples on the Web: Noun One comment to the false Facebook post includes a link to a website that calls the coronavirus itself a hoax and suggests that drinking Corona beer alone will cure the virus. — Stephen Gandel, CBS News, "Facebook struggles to stem spread of coronavirus misinformation," 29 Jan. 2020 But, again, consider parallel cases: Both Lena Dunham and Rolling Stone magazine have published politically motivated rape hoaxes, and those fabrications had real-world consequences, too. — Kevin D. Williamson, National Review, "Small Policy Tweaks Won’t Fix Facebook," 20 Oct. 2019 In answer, a furious Trump weaved and bobbed, fulminating about walls, fake news, and hoaxes, but of course, never going near the question. — Lynn Yaeger, Vogue, "The Week in Washington: “China Should Start an Investigation Into the Bidens!”," 6 Oct. 2019 However, what really happened was Rojas cut himself with a razor blade snuck onto the pitch, but video footage uncovered the hoax, and Chile were eliminated from Italia 90 and disqualified from the 1994 World Cup. — SI.com, "6 Things Liverpool Can Do to Try to Get Thrown Out of the Carabao Cup," 4 Oct. 2019 Even though there was no speech by Trump, who has denied climate change, called it a Chinese hoax and repealed U.S. carbon-reduction policies, he was talked about. — San Diego Union-Tribune, "UN chief urges action to make Earth carbon neutral by 2050," 23 Sep. 2019 Although President Donald Trump has expressed doubt about climate change, even calling it a hoax, a National Climate Assessment released last year by the White House warned that natural disasters in the U.S. are worsening because of global warming. — David Lieb, Twin Cities, "States boosting flood prevention as damage costs soar. MN is a model.," 11 Aug. 2019 The creepy face, which became the center of a viral hoax that petrified thousands of parents earlier this year, is reportedly about to be the basis of a horror movie from Orion Pictures, Vertigo Entertainment, and producer Taka Ichise. — Julie Muncy, WIRED, "Why the Momo Challenge Film Might Beat the Meme Movie Curse," 12 July 2019 But since John Paul had joked about faking his own kidnapping in the past, some of his relatives and the police department wrote the letter off as a hoax. — Elena Nicolaou, refinery29.com, "All The Money In The World," 22 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'hoax.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.