as in deception
the inclination or practice of misleading others through lies or trickery
if the product were any good, the company wouldn't have to resort to fakery to get people to buy it
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Recent Examples of fakery
Each new video encountered online requires a moment’s scanning for signs of fakery.
—
Kyle Chayka, New Yorker, 11 Mar. 2026
What would be the point of them doing obvious fakery?
—Brad Templeton, Forbes.com, 30 Jan. 2026
Texas politics, no stranger to dirty tricks, now heads into a hypercharged 2026 election season with few rules governing artificial intelligence, as cheap, realistic tools have made campaign fakery easier to create and harder to detect.
—Philip Jankowski, Dallas Morning News, 2 Jan. 2026
At a moment in history when politicians shamelessly promote conspiracies using AI fakery as evidence, the film is on point in its depiction of media manipulation.
—Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 14 Nov. 2025
Well, in some ways a lot of Dylan’s fakery of his own bio has always been very amusing.
—Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 27 Oct. 2025
Forgeries, hoaxes, and other types of literary fakery have preoccupied Havens, a rare books and manuscripts curator at the university’s Stern Center for the History of the Book, for many years now.
—JSTOR Daily, 16 Oct. 2025
The fakery made the effects of the global financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 significantly worse in Greece.
—Luciana Lopez, CNN Money, 18 Aug. 2025
Kyle Chayka, New Yorker, 11 Mar. 2026
What would be the point of them doing obvious fakery?
—Brad Templeton, Forbes.com, 30 Jan. 2026
Texas politics, no stranger to dirty tricks, now heads into a hypercharged 2026 election season with few rules governing artificial intelligence, as cheap, realistic tools have made campaign fakery easier to create and harder to detect.
—Philip Jankowski, Dallas Morning News, 2 Jan. 2026
At a moment in history when politicians shamelessly promote conspiracies using AI fakery as evidence, the film is on point in its depiction of media manipulation.
—Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 14 Nov. 2025
Well, in some ways a lot of Dylan’s fakery of his own bio has always been very amusing.
—Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 27 Oct. 2025
Forgeries, hoaxes, and other types of literary fakery have preoccupied Havens, a rare books and manuscripts curator at the university’s Stern Center for the History of the Book, for many years now.
—JSTOR Daily, 16 Oct. 2025
The fakery made the effects of the global financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 significantly worse in Greece.
—Luciana Lopez, CNN Money, 18 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fakery
Noun
-
In 2024, North Korea claimed to have successfully testlaunched a multiwarhead missile, but South Korea quickly dismissed it as deception to cover up a failed launch.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
30 Mar. 2026
-
These include debt bondage, restriction of movement, withholding of wages, excessive overtime, physical violence, surveillance, deception, isolation, abuse of vulnerability and abusive conditions.—
Efrat Lachter,
FOXNews.com,
29 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Taking someone’s money by deceit is generally not allowed, and the misrepresentations contained in the contract could serve as proof of the alleged fraud.—
Robert L. Boone,
Sportico.com,
31 Mar. 2026
-
And in Six Degrees of Separation (1993), Hurt played one of the New York socialites who falls into the web of deceit created by a charismatic young man (Will Smith) pretending to be the son of Sidney Poitier.—
Chris Koseluk,
HollywoodReporter,
29 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
The leader of the Ex-Slave Pension Association was later imprisoned on mail fraud charges, and the organization faded away, while the Eagles became one of the pressure groups that eventually led to Social Security.—
Trevor Jackson,
The New York Review of Books,
4 Apr. 2026
-
At first, the attention became so intense that Bravo was removed from the televisions inside the minimum-security camp, where Shah was serving her sentence for her role in a nationwide telemarketing fraud scheme.—
Dave Quinn,
PEOPLE,
3 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Of course, the retort is that this would be irritating and exasperating to be continually deluged with alerts about AI deceptiveness.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
24 Aug. 2025
-
Beyond the deceptiveness of the narrow material view, spiritual light and hope are always present to be found and felt.—
Sue Brightman,
Christian Science Monitor,
3 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
There seems to be a widespread perception that musicians who use artificial intelligence are engaged in a form of cheating.—
Kelefa Sanneh,
New Yorker,
30 Mar. 2026
-
There is no rampant cheating or election fraud in California.—
Mark Z. Barabak,
Mercury News,
26 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Perfidy — from the French perfidie via the Latin perfidia — means deceitfulness, treachery or a breach of faith or promise.—
Harmeet Kaur,
CNN Money,
21 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
The Brazil international combines technical craft with a decisive cunning.—
Carl Anka,
New York Times,
21 Mar. 2026
-
But Muck is no Epstein, malevolent and cunning.—
Spencer Kornhaber,
The Atlantic,
2 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Fakery.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fakery. Accessed 4 Apr. 2026.
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