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

• trick
• fool
• deceive
• suck in

Examples of string along in a Sentence

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

Recent Examples on the Web

Less than two hours after sunrise, with the shadows still blue and slanting hard in a dense growth of balsam firs and spruces, the baby bird blundered into a fine black net strung along the ridgeline of Mount Mansfield, at 4,393 feet Vermont’s tallest mountain. —Madeline Bodin, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 June 2025

The staircase wound down, down, down, light provided by illumination globes strung along the walls. —Dalton Ross, EW.com, 29 May 2025

Critics have argued Putin is not interested in a lasting peace in Ukraine, with some Democrats suggesting the Trump administration is being strung along while Moscow makes gains on the battlefield. —Brett Samuels, The Hill, 31 Mar. 2025

Richard’s Motel Studios — all strung along South Federal Highway just south of Young Circle. —Howard Cohen, Miami Herald, 31 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1914, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Rhymes for string along

• evensong
• livelong
• overlong
• vietcong
• agung
• belong
• birdsong
• furlong
• headlong
• headstrong
• lifelong
• plainsong

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