1
as in to trick
to cause to believe what is untrue
my friends faked me out for a whole day, letting me think that they had forgotten my birthday
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to evade
to elude (an opponent in a sports contest) by making a deceptive or agile movement
used a quick between-the-legs dribble to fake out the flat-footed defender
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of fake out
Final Destination 2: The fire escape Another example of the franchise's excellent ability to fake out viewers happens during the death of Evan (David Paetkau).
—
Keith Langston, People.com, 18 May 2025
And there's at least one thing that felt designed specifically to fake out book-readers.
—ArsTechnica, 18 Apr. 2025
Marner faked out Swayman and tucked the winner behind the goalie.
—Fluto Shinzawa, The Athletic, 26 Feb. 2025
This opening fake out is a direct lift from the book.
—Chris Klimek, Vulture, 20 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for fake out
Keith Langston, People.com, 18 May 2025
And there's at least one thing that felt designed specifically to fake out book-readers.
—ArsTechnica, 18 Apr. 2025
Marner faked out Swayman and tucked the winner behind the goalie.
—Fluto Shinzawa, The Athletic, 26 Feb. 2025
This opening fake out is a direct lift from the book.
—Chris Klimek, Vulture, 20 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for fake out
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fake out
Verb
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The bad actors utilized a common cyber method—contacting employees by text or phone and pretending to be from IT or human resources—with the goal of tricking those employees to give up sensitive personal information or account access.—
John Kell,
Fortune,
20 Aug. 2025
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Whereas in the past a lot of scams tried to trick you into giving out your financial account numbers, many now seek to persuade you to move your money from one of your accounts to another type of account the scammers can access.—
Jeanne Sahadi,
CNN Money,
20 Aug. 2025
Verb
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D'Angelo explained exactly what had happened to make that scene, in which a squirrel leaps out of the family tree, prompting the family to run around the house to try and evade it.—
Raechal Shewfelt,
EW.com,
2 Sep. 2025
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Analysts say Pyongyang’s focus now appears to be on refining payload capacity and survivability to ensure its arsenal can evade US and allied missile defenses.—
Kapil Kajal,
Interesting Engineering,
2 Sep. 2025
Verb
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To the American people—don't let this fool you.—
Robert Birsel,
MSNBC Newsweek,
3 Sep. 2025
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In autonomous vehicles, a single sticker on a stop sign can fool a vision system.—
Sagar Gupta,
Forbes.com,
2 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Psychological testing indicated that Brown was trying to fake symptoms of mental illness, Sutton said.—
Kevin Grasha,
Cincinnati Enquirer,
5 Sep. 2025
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Ziva hid Tali from Tony initially and then faked her own death.—
Toni Fitzgerald,
Forbes.com,
4 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Andor hates him on sight, which only intensifies when Berend smacks around his mother and tears up the apartment looking for proof that Klára has deceived the boy with idealized fictions about his origins.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
28 Aug. 2025
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If this information were accessed, scammers could more convincingly extort or deceive individuals, according to Landau.—
TIME Staff,
Time,
26 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Historic buildings are strung along a few blocks of divided Historic Route 66, a nice mix of eateries, saloons and shops.—
Roger Naylor,
AZCentral.com,
14 Aug. 2025
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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
Verb
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Julia thinks so too, and presses in, sucking in a breath when Ellen mentions Fairy Hill and how people dance into the nights and wake up a hundred years later.—
Lincee Ray Published,
EW.com,
22 Aug. 2025
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In this case, the device was able to suck in part of the worm's tail and drag it out—still squirming.—
Beth Mole,
ArsTechnica,
13 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Fake out.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fake%20out. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
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