COZENING Synonyms: 111 Similar and Opposite Words

cozening

verb

present participle of cozen

as in deceiving

to cause to believe what is untrue cozened several elderly ladies into believing that he was intending marriage

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as in cheating

to rob by the use of trickery or threats cozened scores of people by persuading them to hand over funds that he would "invest"

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for cozening

Verb

The public deserves to know which of his points were defensible and which were deceiving.

— Stewart Mandel, New York Times, 14 Sep. 2026
At Ground Zero, 9/11 widow Terry Strada accused Saudi Arabia of deceiving victims’ families and urged the administration to rethink Washington’s close ties as a landmark lawsuit moves forward.

— Collin Binkley, Los Angeles Times, 11 Sep. 2026

Definition of deceiving

Verb

Written and rendered by dudes who longed for unlimited success, these are songs about cheating and being cheated on and trying but failing to be content, or love as lived amid capitalist indulgence.

— Grayson Haver Currin, Pitchfork, 30 Aug. 2026
In this case, the reward was solving the ExploitGym questions and the hacking was literally hacking—cheating on the test and then hacking into Hugging Face in an effort to cover up the cheating (more on that below).

— Emily Forlini, Fortune, 26 Aug. 2026

Definition of cheating

Verb

An English springer spaniel in Alabama loves nothing more than spending her whole day in the pool and has taken to tricking her parents into letting her into the pool every day.

— Saman Shafiq, USA Today, 6 Sep. 2026
In many cases, the robot tail wags the living dog by tricking it—tricking us—into caring about obscure metrics, then gamifying the process of improving them.

— Hillary Busis, Vanity Fair, 28 Aug. 2026

Definition of tricking

Verb

Weiss has been reworking CBS News’ broadcast lineup, plucking Tony Dokoupil from the program for the Evening News slot, and most recently overhauling 60 Minutes under new executive producer Nick Bilton.

— Alex Weprin, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2026
The streamer has found its leading lady for the biopic, plucking an unknown first-timer to play the sertanejo icon.

— Stewart Clarke, Deadline, 17 Aug. 2026

Definition of plucking

Verb

In the highlight, Marshall retrieves the ball and oddly fires it back to the infield, fooling no one.

— Tyler Kepner, New York Times, 4 Sep. 2026
Anybody hoping that a Netanyahu defeat in October and the emergence of a less controversial successor will reset the table is likely fooling themselves.

— Daniel DePetris, Chicago Tribune, 18 Aug. 2026

Definition of fooling

Verb

Some baby hummingbirds disguise themselves as caterpillars with stinging hairs to avoid predators, while octopus, squid, and cuttlefish use camouflage to blend in with their surroundings and hide.

— Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 10 Sep. 2026
How to prevent wasps, hornets, and yellow jackets Proactive maintenance can keep stinging insects from setting up home on your property.

— Nick Perry, USA Today, 9 Sep. 2026

Definition of stinging

Verb

Besides Instagram hustling and scouring job boards, entrepreneurial editors find gigs when creators call out for help.

— Andrew Zucker, HollywoodReporter, 7 Aug. 2026
Devers, who finished with three hits, eschewed his power for small ball in the fifth, laying down a surprise bunt for a single, then hustling home on Susac’s sacrifice fly.

— Justice delos Santos, Mercury News, 31 July 2026

Definition of hustling

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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cozeners

cozening

cozens

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“Cozening.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cozening. Accessed 16 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of cozening

verb

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