as in joking
marked by or expressive of mild or good-natured teasing
ribbed him with fooling comments about how much his hair had grayed
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
1
as in tricking
to cause to believe what is untrue
I fooled him into thinking that we were driving to the store, not to his surprise birthday party
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in kidding
to make jokes
an edgy comedian fooling with an appreciative college audience
Synonyms & Similar Words
as in deception
Related 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 fooling
Richard B. Williams, Denver Post, 10 Sep. 2025
And tech companies must do far more in the design of AI systems to prevent people fooling themselves into thinking these systems are conscious beings.
—Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 26 Aug. 2025
Deepfakes are getting better at fooling people and will continue to be a rising threat.
—Gene Marks, Forbes.com, 24 Aug. 2025
James cuts back inside onto his right foot, fooling the defender, rather than going to the byline off his left foot.
—Beren Cross, New York Times, 8 Apr. 2025
Each plays a role in fooling their foe, who captures the turtle, while the deer, heeding the turtle’s good counsel, manages a sly escape.
—John Nemec, The Conversation, 7 Apr. 2025
Myatt has already served time for his fooling art auction houses and others into buying his copies of others’ art, and got out of jail for doing just that in 1999.
—The Editors Of Artnews, ARTnews.com, 1 Apr. 2025
The Naperville City Council election is April 1 (not fooling).
—Naperville Sun, Chicago Tribune, 18 Mar. 2025
Chunky and at times fooling no one with its meandering character logic, there’s a reason most of the awards this film went to Hopkins.
—Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 17 Mar. 2025
Noun
Stop fooling yourself and listen.
—Richard B. Williams, Denver Post, 10 Sep. 2025
And tech companies must do far more in the design of AI systems to prevent people fooling themselves into thinking these systems are conscious beings.
—Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 26 Aug. 2025
Deepfakes are getting better at fooling people and will continue to be a rising threat.
—Gene Marks, Forbes.com, 24 Aug. 2025
James cuts back inside onto his right foot, fooling the defender, rather than going to the byline off his left foot.
—Beren Cross, New York Times, 8 Apr. 2025
Each plays a role in fooling their foe, who captures the turtle, while the deer, heeding the turtle’s good counsel, manages a sly escape.
—John Nemec, The Conversation, 7 Apr. 2025
Myatt has already served time for his fooling art auction houses and others into buying his copies of others’ art, and got out of jail for doing just that in 1999.
—The Editors Of Artnews, ARTnews.com, 1 Apr. 2025
The Naperville City Council election is April 1 (not fooling).
—Naperville Sun, Chicago Tribune, 18 Mar. 2025
Chunky and at times fooling no one with its meandering character logic, there’s a reason most of the awards this film went to Hopkins.
—Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 17 Mar. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fooling
Verb
-
What does work is tricking her into pressing a button that knocks her out.—
Keith Phipps,
Vulture,
4 Sep. 2025
-
While the Phantom Hacker attack is designed specifically to drain your bank accounts, there are plenty of variants relying on tricking you into installing dangerous software that either gives an attacker a view of your device or hijacks it completely.—
Zak Doffman,
Forbes.com,
30 Aug. 2025
Verb
-
Harry brought his trademark humor and warmth to the awards, a ceremony honoring seriously ill children who have shown incredible courage, joking and making smiles all around.—
Erin Hill,
People.com,
9 Sep. 2025
-
The pair let the news spread for a few moments -- then Stern jumped on to clarify that Cohen had been joking.—
Ahmad Hemingway,
ABC News,
8 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Advances in deception and seeking technologies will further shape this contest, as each side works to reduce the effectiveness of the other’s systems.—
Vikram Mittal,
Forbes.com,
9 Sep. 2025
-
Minnesota’s Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson condemned the deception and affirmed how troubling the ambush was.—
Stepheny Price,
FOXNews.com,
7 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
Looks can be deceiving, Cali said.—
Bryan Washington,
New Yorker,
7 Sep. 2025
-
The lexicon of the wine world can be deceiving.—
Tom Mullen,
Forbes.com,
25 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Today’s shortsighted, sellout city politicians are killing the golden goose under the ruse that affordable housing is the be-all and the end-all of life in San Diego.—
U T Readers,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
7 Sep. 2025
-
The agent, keeping up the ruse, continued to push her on the phone for several minutes.—
Lauren del Valle,
CNN Money,
30 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Admissions of fraud by the Fox sisters, numerous exposures of trickery and growing secularism meant that interest in communicating with ghosts was rapidly dwindling.—
Alice Vernon
September 8,
Literary Hub,
8 Sep. 2025
-
The rooms are packed with high-tech trickery which creates alien-like landscapes.—
Caroline Reid,
Forbes.com,
8 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Maybe Payton’s running the best preseason subterfuge campaign ever to make Estime look bad on film.—
Sean Keeler,
Denver Post,
17 Aug. 2025
-
On the other side of this triangle, Conrad has his own Belly-management system, which relies heavily on subterfuge and mostly comes down to attempts to feed her.—
Kathleen Walsh,
Vulture,
13 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Maye was 15-for-25 for 184 yards with a touchdown and an interception wile rushing four times for 24 yards.—
Michael Hurley,
MSNBC Newsweek,
6 Sep. 2025
-
Elizabeth, as if sensing her impending new position in the family, is taking on more and more adult wiles. . .—
John Updike,
New Yorker,
11 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Fooling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fooling. Accessed 13 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share