1
as in forging
to imitate or copy especially in order to deceive
pranksters faked giant footprints and then claimed that they had seen Bigfoot
Synonyms & Similar Words
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2
as in pretending
to present a false appearance of
while running for class president, Dan was not above faking friendship with people just to get their votes
Synonyms & Similar Words
3
as in concocting
to perform, make, or do without preparation
if you give me the gist of the plan, I can probably fake enough for the speech
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
4
as in evading
to elude (an opponent in a sports contest) by making a deceptive or agile movement
the running back faked the defense by stepping to his left and then quickly cutting to the right
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of faking
Wisconsin doesn't have a crime on the books for faking a death.
—
Drake Bentley, jsonline.com, 3 Feb. 2026
After faking a slap shot, Kucherov had sent a pass down to Guentzel.
—Fluto Shinzawa, New York Times, 2 Feb. 2026
The leaders of the A3 network of mostly online charter schools were charged in 2019 with a scheme that prosecutors said relied on faking student enrollment and attendance to defraud the state of hundreds of millions of dollars.
—Jemma Stephenson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 31 Jan. 2026
The reality is that the AI is concocting elaborate personas, faking as though humans are writing about human woes.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 29 Jan. 2026
Financial future faking is becoming a major factor in Gen Z and millennial divorces—and perhaps a reason why these younger generations marry less often or much later in life.
—Sydney Lake, Fortune, 11 Jan. 2026
The 27-year-old solo travel content creator, who has gone viral for traveling to destinations across the globe for just 24 hours, is pushing back against rumors that his content is staged after followers accused him of faking his trips.
—Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 8 Jan. 2026
Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie were also recently accused of faking publicity to try to look better.
—Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 13 Dec. 2025
Against the Blue Devils, the Huskies had three receivers lined up to the left with the inside slot receiver faking a bubble screen.
—Steven Johnson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 12 Dec. 2025
Drake Bentley, jsonline.com, 3 Feb. 2026
After faking a slap shot, Kucherov had sent a pass down to Guentzel.
—Fluto Shinzawa, New York Times, 2 Feb. 2026
The leaders of the A3 network of mostly online charter schools were charged in 2019 with a scheme that prosecutors said relied on faking student enrollment and attendance to defraud the state of hundreds of millions of dollars.
—Jemma Stephenson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 31 Jan. 2026
The reality is that the AI is concocting elaborate personas, faking as though humans are writing about human woes.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 29 Jan. 2026
Financial future faking is becoming a major factor in Gen Z and millennial divorces—and perhaps a reason why these younger generations marry less often or much later in life.
—Sydney Lake, Fortune, 11 Jan. 2026
The 27-year-old solo travel content creator, who has gone viral for traveling to destinations across the globe for just 24 hours, is pushing back against rumors that his content is staged after followers accused him of faking his trips.
—Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 8 Jan. 2026
Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie were also recently accused of faking publicity to try to look better.
—Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 13 Dec. 2025
Against the Blue Devils, the Huskies had three receivers lined up to the left with the inside slot receiver faking a bubble screen.
—Steven Johnson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 12 Dec. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for faking
Verb
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Garcia was detained and later arrested on two counts of grand theft auto, one count of owning or aiding in operating a chop shop, and one count of forging or altering a vehicle title, according to his arrest report.—
Devoun Cetoute,
Miami Herald,
26 Feb. 2026
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Brazil seeks new trade allies amid tariff uncertainty Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva accelerated his global diplomatic push, forging new trade agreements amid global upheaval.—
semafor.com,
semafor.com,
25 Feb. 2026
Verb
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There wouldn’t have been any point to our pretending not to be Jewish, because everybody thought of us as Jewish and that would never change.—
Nicholas Lemann,
New Yorker,
21 Feb. 2026
-
The series of snaps opens with the singer pretending to chat on an old-fashioned rotary dial phone while wearing a brown animal-print coat with leather and feather accents.—
Gil Kaufman,
Billboard,
17 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Reporters including Sheen can be seen concocting covert plots to meet with them face to face, the success or failure of which briefly becomes an intense point of interest.—
Siddhant Adlakha,
Variety,
17 Feb. 2026
-
The reality is that the AI is concocting elaborate personas, faking as though humans are writing about human woes.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
29 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
The supine Republicans who now controlled both chambers of Congress gave him cover, while a decade of evading consequences lent his presidency an aura of near total impunity.—
Aidan McLaughlin,
Vanity Fair,
25 Feb. 2026
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The local pedicab service, which was started in 2024 by Atticus Sloan and Mark Madden, offers an environmentally friendly, traffic-evading mode of transportation.—
Kansas City Star,
Kansas City Star,
22 Feb. 2026
Verb
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And Cannon — who played with the Houston Oilers, Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs — admitted to counterfeiting in the mid-1980s after a series of bad investments and debts left him broke.—
Seung Min Kim,
Chicago Tribune,
13 Feb. 2026
-
Cannon, a star with the Houston Oilers and Oakland Raiders, admitted to counterfeiting in the mid-1980s.—
Ryan Gaydos,
FOXNews.com,
13 Feb. 2026
Verb
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The date was set after NASA completed an elaborate fueling test and launch-day walkthrough Thursday, filling its Space Launch System rocket with more than 700,000 gallons of cryogenic propellant and simulating nearly every step of the countdown to liftoff.—
Denise Chow,
NBC news,
20 Feb. 2026
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The approach of simulating thousands of possibilities and comparing results to physical evidence is transferable to other domains where partial physical evidence exists but documentation doesn’t.—
Hanna Wickes,
Miami Herald,
19 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Health ministry officials and the ministry of trade are also devising tax breaks to incentivize local manufacturing, said Modise.—
Alexis Akwagyiram,
semafor.com,
20 Feb. 2026
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And commissioners spent all that time devising the College Sports Commission in an attempt to stabilize the NIL/portal market, then sit back and let one school in their conference steal yet another star QB half an hour before the portal closes.—
Stewart Mandel,
New York Times,
28 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Not Carolyn artfully dodging the drug allegations!—
Emma Specter,
Vogue,
19 Feb. 2026
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Alternately embracing and dodging comparisons, the younger Buckley rode the wave of notoriety in the downtown Manhattan scene, securing a recording contract and an army of dedicated followers.—
Jordan Hoffman,
Entertainment Weekly,
15 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Faking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/faking. Accessed 28 Feb. 2026.
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