gaffed

verb

past tense of gaff
1
as in tricked
to cause to believe what is untrue a sleazy schemer who gaffed gullible people into thinking they could get rich with a money-making opportunity

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in cheated
to rob by the use of trickery or threats the operators of the traveling carnival had gaffed patrons with a variety of time-honored ruses

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for gaffed
  1. tricked
  2. cheated
  3. fooled
  4. plucked
  5. deceived
  6. squeezed
  7. hustled
  8. stung
Verb
  • But a few times in recent years, Hollins, a veterinarian, tricked Jonathan and slid a cotton swab into the giant tortoise's mouth to get a saliva sample.
    — KYLE MELNICK THE WASHINGTON POST, Arkansas Online, 18 Oct. 2026
  • Those conducting the online scams are sometimes willing con artists, and other times trafficked foreign nationals -- many Chinese -- tricked themselves into work and held in prison-like compounds.
    — CBS News, CBS News, 13 Oct. 2026
Definition of tricked
Verb
  • As Gabe yells that Morgan cheated and broke up the family, a grin starts to spread across Nick’s and Serena’s faces.
    — Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 16 Oct. 2026
  • The Dubas front office cheated for offence in a sense too, deciding to buck the trend by building from centre ice backwards and not drafting/developing top d-men.
    — James Mirtle, New York Times, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of cheated
Verb
  • Chiefs-Seahawks game prediction Don’t be fooled be the records.
    — Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 22 Oct. 2026
  • As temperatures drop in the fall, aphids, like other garden pests, are less active, but don’t be fooled by appearances.
    — Nadia Hassani, The Spruce, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of fooled
Verb
  • During fall, a train window serves as the perfect perch for leaf-peeping in river valleys aglow in crimson and gold or passing through small towns that look like they’ve been plucked from a Hallmark movie.
    — Lauren Dana Ellman, Midwest Living, 15 Oct. 2026
  • As the party winded down, guests plucked final bites off silver platters and marveled at how tall Skarsgård truly is in person—his nearly six-foot-five frame barely fit under the bar’s low ceilings.
    — Kenneal Patterson, Vanity Fair, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of plucked
Verb
  • Attorneys for New Mexico argued that the state's entire population, not just Facebook users, were deceived by the company's public statements about privacy on the platform.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 21 Oct. 2026
  • Attorneys for New Mexico argued that the state’s entire population, not just Facebook users, were deceived by the company’s public statements about privacy on the platform.
    — Mikella Schuettler, Fortune, 21 Oct. 2026
Definition of deceived
Verb
  • In Malabo, Bioko’s biggest city, a team of men and women equipped with insecticide sprayers squeezed between low-rise cement buildings on a recent morning, as heavy rain drummed on aluminum roofs.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 18 Oct. 2026
  • Elevated borrowing rates and refinancing challenges (registration required) have squeezed an already difficult landscape for development financing.
    — Jill Jones, Forbes.com, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of squeezed
Verb
  • Quickly, the house lights come up, and Lay and family are hustled backstage to get reacquainted.
    — Joan Kron, Allure, 28 Sep. 2026
  • Her mother hustled her to hospital, only for the doctors to realize Accurso’s active imagination had left her in the same predicament as Madeline’s friends.
    — CT Jones, Rolling Stone, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of hustled
Verb
  • All of a sudden, Bass was a staggering champion lunging at a revived Raman, who swung and stung and ducked the way only a hungry up-and-comer can.
    — Lorraine Ali, Los Angeles Times, 14 Oct. 2026
  • The loss to Ole Miss three weeks ago stung, but was not unexpected.
    — Austin Perry OutKick, FOXNews.com, 11 Oct. 2026
Definition of stung
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.

Browse Nearby Words

gaffe
gaffed
gaffer
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Gaffed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/gaffed. Accessed 26 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of disparate

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Can' vs. 'May'

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Why do we 'bury the lede?'

'Za' and 9 Other Words to Help You Win at SCRABBLE
See More

Popular

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
different halloween monsters in silhouette
A Monstrous Vocab Quiz Words That Go Bump in the Night
See All