string along

verb

strung along; stringing along; strings along

transitive verb

1

: to keep waiting

strung him along until the boss was back from lunch

2

: deceive, fool

stringing us along with ruses and red herrings

—John Powers

intransitive verb

: go along, agree

held her tongue and strung along with the rest of them

Synonyms

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

Example Sentences

the student succeeded in stringing even his teachers along with his tales of family hardships

Recent Examples on the Web

This forces you to install the camera close by a power outlet or string along an extension cable to reach the device. —Tom Price, Popular Mechanics, 15 Mar. 2023

Is Jules also an expert performer away from the club spotlight, dispassionately stringing along his prey by playing sweetly submissive? —Guy Lodge, Variety, 21 Feb. 2023

For decades, mathematicians had their eye on a candidate: the (2, 1) cable of the figure-eight knot, made by threading a second string along a figure-eight knot and then merging the two strings to make a single knot. —Leila Sloman, Quanta Magazine, 2 Feb. 2023

At Christmastime, thick swags of white pine and arborvitae string along the entire length of the porch, with the occasional pair of galvanized bells tucked in for punctuation. —Shaila Wunderlich, Country Living, 3 Jan. 2023

Paxton has maintained his innocence and legal watchdogs remain baffled as to his ability to string along the legal process. —Dan Carson, Chron, 6 June 2022

Here’s my argument: When times were fat—like, six months ago—auto makers could afford to pad the bill and string along consumers with new features. —Dan Neil, WSJ, 29 May 2020

Small white lights strung along the ceiling evoke a starry sky. —Eric Velasco, al, 4 May 2020

The ski area resembles a vast white curtain strung along six high peaks, trails plummeting for 3,000 vertical feet among the folds and ripples. —Cindy Hirschfeld, New York Times, 18 Feb. 2020

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Word History

First Known Use

1914, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Kids Definition

string along

verb

1

: to go along : agree

string along with the majority

2

: deceive sense 1, fool

would string us along with false promises