faking out

verb

present participle of fake out
1
as in deceiving
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 evading
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

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.
Recent Examples of faking out In the 80th minute, Denkey received an assist from Ender Echenique, faking out goalkeeper Lucas Hoyos before finishing with his left foot between a pair of defenders. — ABC News, 21 Feb. 2026 Among the highlights was Dart taking off in the first quarter, faking out several Eagles defenders, and running to the endzone for a 20-yard touchdown. — Matthew Couden, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Oct. 2025 Old Dominion started fast, with quarterback Colton Joseph faking out the Hoosiers defense on the first offensive play of the game and sprinting 75 yards for a touchdown. — Michael Marot, Chicago Tribune, 30 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for faking out
  1. deceiving
  2. evading
  3. tricking
  4. fooling
  5. sucking in
  6. stringing along
  7. taking in
  8. having on
Verb
  • Paul has long accused Fauci of deceiving Americans about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
    — Mary Kekatos, ABC News, 29 July 2026
  • The ensuing investigation ultimately revealed that Angela had framed Hadley and uncovered evidence of her long history of deceiving people to gain sympathy.
    — Britt Hayes, Entertainment Weekly, 23 July 2026
Definition of deceiving
Verb
  • In June, police in nearby Greenwood Village arrested a 15-year-old for evading police, and his bike was impounded.
    — Ashley Portillo, CBS News, 14 Aug. 2026
  • Lyons remained a free man after these revelations, though he was charged with evading police, and later with being a felon in possession of a firearm.
    — Nate Gartrell, Mercury News, 13 Aug. 2026
Definition of evading
Verb
  • Mistruths, false claims, scams, and other deceptive efforts are tricking people into thinking that a watermark removal app will do wonders, whereas the reality is that the results are at best half-mixed or aimed to cause damage.
    — Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 16 Aug. 2026
  • ClickFix works by tricking you into performing an action on your computer that stealthily downloads and installs malware.
    — Alan Henry, PC Magazine, 14 Aug. 2026
Definition of tricking
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
  • However, while there may be no blood sucking in this particular novel, that doesn’t mean that the adaptation doesn’t have Rice’s trademark sensuality.
    — Mathew Rodriguez, Them., 12 Nov. 2025
  • 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
Definition of sucking in
Verb
  • Sure enough, Dick took off with the other packhorses stringing along behind him.
    — Dolores Brown, Outdoor Life, 17 June 2026
Definition of stringing along
Verb
  • Also up considerably was Every Brilliant Thing, taking in a strong $886,815 for its final week, a jump of $229,364 over the previous week.
    — Greg Evans, Deadline, 11 Aug. 2026
  • Time to decide Fed officials will have the advantage of taking in both the July and August inflation readings before meeting again.
    — Jeff Cox, CNBC, 11 Aug. 2026
Definition of taking in
Verb
  • Yet despite some positive results, both economists and on-the-ground workers are calling attention to the negative impact AI is already having on the labor market.
    — Sebastian Herrera, Fortune, 8 Aug. 2026
  • The conversations that high-level leaders are having on a daily basis are less about tasks and execution and more about the capacity of their workforce.
    — Laura Weldy, Forbes.com, 18 June 2026
Definition of having on

Browse Nearby Words

faking
faking out
fakir
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Cite this Entry

“Faking out.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/faking%20out. Accessed 17 Aug. 2026.

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