“the garden path”

The following 2 entries include the term the garden path.

lead one down the garden path

phrase

: hoodwink, deceive

See the full definition

lead (someone) down/up the garden path

phrase

: to deceive (someone) : to cause (someone) to go, think, or proceed wrongly

See the full definition

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of undulate

See Definitions and Examples »

Test Your Vocabulary

Challenging Words You Should Know

  • hedgehog reading a book
  • Often used to describe “the march of time,” what does inexorable mean?
True or False

Test your knowledge - and maybe learn something along the way.

TAKE THE QUIZ
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.

Pick the best words!

PLAY
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
back-of-head-mortarboard
Quiz: Name That Hat! Time to put on your thinking cap.
See All