cozening

verb

present participle of cozen
1
as in deceiving
to cause to believe what is untrue cozened several elderly ladies into believing that he was intending marriage

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
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
  1. deceiving
  2. cheating
  3. tricking
  4. plucking
  5. fooling
  6. stinging
  7. squeezing
  8. hustling
Verb
  • Paul has long accused Fauci of deceiving Americans about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
    — Mary Kekatos, ABC News, 29 July 2026
  • All the wig and makeup work put into deceiving their people isn’t needed in the first place.
    — Michael Ashley, Forbes.com, 22 July 2026
Definition of deceiving
Verb
  • But after he was accused of cheating, the school suspended him for a year and gave him an F in the course Sourcing and Managing Funds.
    — Nate Anderson, ArsTechnica, 31 July 2026
  • These two, like the cheating wife stiffing her babysitter, got too caught up in the pursuit of romance, allegedly.
    — Sean Joseph OutKick, FOXNews.com, 30 July 2026
Definition of cheating
Verb
  • Football is all about engaño (trickery) — looking one way and passing the other, feinting to go left and swiftly moving right, manipulating the opposition and tricking them to open up those little spaces.
    — Xavi, New York Times, 19 July 2026
  • What’s far more eloquent is the episode with the witch Circe (a terrific Samantha Morton), whose habit of tricking and transforming men into animals is rendered in evocatively physical, body-horror-esque imagery.
    — Alison Willmore, Vulture, 15 July 2026
Definition of tricking
Verb
  • Alix Earle, and her younger sister Ashtin, have given the skinny brow trend their own proverbial thumbs up, plucking away their natural shape over the last year.
    — Kaleigh Werner, Footwear News, 27 July 2026
  • The fact that celebrity landed upon him, plucking him from the obscurity of his mission to represent the burgeoning discourse on the disease, says more about the world that orbited him than his actions on the island or his own political nous.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 20 July 2026
Definition of plucking
Verb
  • Throughout all the commotion, Romelu Lukaku acted as decoy, holding on to the ball, fooling everyone, including the TV producer, who pulled up a graphic showing his recent penalty record.
    — Geir Jordet, New York Times, 15 July 2026
  • Speaking on Harvard Business School’s The Founder Mindset podcast, hosted by senior lecturer and serial entrepreneur Reza Satchu, the Shark Tank investor argued that anyone trying to balance a young company against the rest of their life is fooling themselves.
    — Sydney Lake, Fortune, 17 June 2026
Definition of fooling
Verb
  • The downside is that the active ingredients can trigger stinging, breakouts or reactions in people with sensitive skin.
    — Hanna Wickes, Kansas City Star, 30 July 2026
  • The 21-year-old grows more confident when starting on the left wing, stinging the outside of Rosenborg’s goalpost wth a solid effort in the 28th minute.
    — Carl Anka, New York Times, 25 July 2026
Definition of stinging
Verb
  • The depreciation has sounded alarm bells in Tokyo, with rising import costs squeezing businesses and consumers.
    — Mia Glass, Fortune, 3 Aug. 2026
  • By squeezing the blocks together with the sample in the center, scientists apply an immense amount of pressure on it.
    — Robin Macaluso, The Conversation, 3 Aug. 2026
Definition of squeezing
Verb
  • 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
  • These slim-fit mid-rise joggers look perfect for hustling around a busy airport, but are also stylish enough to wear while sightseeing.
    — Kaitlin Gates, Travel + Leisure, 10 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.

Browse Nearby Words

cozeners
cozening
cozens
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Cite this Entry

“Cozening.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cozening. Accessed 7 Aug. 2026.

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