FOOLING Synonyms: 172 Similar and Opposite Words

fooling 1 of 3

adjective

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

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fooling

2 of 3

noun

as in deception

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fooling

3 of 3

verb

present participle of fool

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

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in kidding

to make jokes an edgy comedian fooling with an appreciative college audience

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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

Noun

No fooling, April brings some pretty interesting surprises on Netflix. — K. Thor Jensen, PC Magazine, 27 Mar. 2026

Verb

In the highlight, Marshall retrieves the ball and oddly fires it back to the infield, fooling no one. — Tyler Kepner, New York Times, 4 Sep. 2026 Anybody hoping that a Netanyahu defeat in October and the emergence of a less controversial successor will reset the table is likely fooling themselves. — Daniel Depetris, Chicago Tribune, 18 Aug. 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 The other is fooling humans, particularly the dwindling number of journalists, critics, and other gatekeepers who are still capable of conferring legitimacy by paying attention. — Lane Brown, Vulture, 15 May 2026 After killing Minnesota’s first power play, the Avalanche opened the scoring when defenseman Sam Malinski scored his first career playoff goal, fooling Wallstedt with a rising wrist shot. — Jess Myers, Twin Cities, 4 May 2026 But anyone in the auto industry who didn’t feel like something was going to happen in China five years ago was fooling themselves. — Jamie Lincoln Kitman, Rolling Stone, 24 Apr. 2026 Politicians are fooling themselves about the political power of health-conscious moms. — Nicholas Florko, The Atlantic, 22 Apr. 2026 But Baio says Kassotis has been fooling people for years. — Erin Moriarty, CBS News, 8 Mar. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for fooling

Adjective

To get a sense of his whole deal, look no further than the half-mocking, half-earnest title of his latest album, Country!

— Jonathan Bernstein, Rolling Stone, 23 Sep. 2025

Definition of mocking

Noun

Leaders managing autonomous agent deployments across enterprise environments have spent years auditing outputs for compliance, deception vectors and guardrail breaches.

— Terry Oroszi, Forbes.com, 15 Sep. 2026
Those charges cover a wide range of behaviors related to schemes in which money or property is obtained through deception and interstate electronic communications.

— Michael McCann, Sportico.com, 11 Sep. 2026

Definition of deception

Verb

An English springer spaniel in Alabama loves nothing more than spending her whole day in the pool and has taken to tricking her parents into letting her into the pool every day.

— Saman Shafiq, USA Today, 6 Sep. 2026
In many cases, the robot tail wags the living dog by tricking it—tricking us—into caring about obscure metrics, then gamifying the process of improving them.

— Hillary Busis, Vanity Fair, 28 Aug. 2026

Definition of tricking

Verb

Country star Russell Dickerson and his wife, Kailey, even leave their boys with grandma for warehouse dates, with Kailey joking that any kid-free excursion – especially a Costco run – feels romantic.

— Jessica Guynn, USA Today, 16 Sep. 2026
Texas quarterback Arch Manning apologized Tuesday for publicly joking about an AI-altered video that depicted Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian slapping ESPN sideline reporter Holly Rowe in the moments after Texas' big win over Ohio State.

— CBS News, CBS News, 16 Sep. 2026

Definition of joking

Noun

Litton had apparently set up a similar ruse at another small Seventh-day Adventist school, this one in Red Bluff, about 70 miles northwest of Oroville, sheriff’s officials said.

— Rosalio Ahumada, Sacbee.com, 14 Sep. 2026
One such ruse, revealed by The Athletic in August 2024, involved a team of pickpockets being hired to teach his squad the importance of being ready, alert and prepared at all times.

— Art de Roché, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2026

Definition of ruse

Verb

The public deserves to know which of his points were defensible and which were deceiving.

— Stewart Mandel, New York Times, 14 Sep. 2026
At Ground Zero, 9/11 widow Terry Strada accused Saudi Arabia of deceiving victims’ families and urged the administration to rethink Washington’s close ties as a landmark lawsuit moves forward.

— Collin Binkley, Los Angeles Times, 11 Sep. 2026

Definition of deceiving

Noun

Course designer Leopoldo Palacios’s influential track featured a rollback to the water tray — a bit of trickery that Palacios had famously used at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and had shelved since.

— Tilly Berendt, New York Times, 14 Sep. 2026
Extremism, in both parties, is a tool of propagandists trying to win elections through trickery.

— Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 8 Sep. 2026