as in to deceive
to cause to believe what is untrue
Tom Sawyer famously hoodwinked the other boys into thinking there was nothing more enjoyable than whitewashing a fence
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Recent Examples of hoodwink
Invited to provide his thoughts on this, Arbeloa stressed he won’t be hoodwinked.
—
Tom Sanderson, Forbes.com, 17 Jan. 2026
That rowdy group is out to swindle and hoodwink rich guys.
—Randy Myers, Mercury News, 14 Jan. 2026
Even as the Deliriant and his pint-size accomplice attempt to hoodwink a monster, they’re left to wonder, poignantly, if anything in their duplicitous world is real.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 18 Dec. 2025
Reps for Young and Baez declined to comment, much like reps for Bob Dylan, Phil Collins, Bruce Springsteen, and others who have passed on making statements about AI imagery that’s hoodwinked whatever percentage of their fan bases.
—David Browne, Rolling Stone, 21 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hoodwink
Tom Sanderson, Forbes.com, 17 Jan. 2026
That rowdy group is out to swindle and hoodwink rich guys.
—Randy Myers, Mercury News, 14 Jan. 2026
Even as the Deliriant and his pint-size accomplice attempt to hoodwink a monster, they’re left to wonder, poignantly, if anything in their duplicitous world is real.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 18 Dec. 2025
Reps for Young and Baez declined to comment, much like reps for Bob Dylan, Phil Collins, Bruce Springsteen, and others who have passed on making statements about AI imagery that’s hoodwinked whatever percentage of their fan bases.
—David Browne, Rolling Stone, 21 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hoodwink
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hoodwink
Verb
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The lawsuit alleged that Capital One deceived customers about interest rates related to some of its savings account options, according to court filings on the settlement website.—
Melina Khan,
USA Today,
3 May 2026
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Her The Wife nods and supports, all knowingly without deceiving the emotional truths of the narrative.—
Chris Feil,
Vulture,
1 May 2026
Verb
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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
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Don’t let Will Lee’s nickname fool you.—
Mike Kaye
May 4,
Charlotte Observer,
4 May 2026
Verb
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According to police records, Torres-García died months before DCF was successfully tricked by her mother into doing a video call with a woman who has said she was asked to impersonate the child.—
Laura Tillman,
Hartford Courant,
2 May 2026
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Instead of acting independently, the forces influence one another to amplify the ion’s motion, thereby tricking the system into generating a much stronger, more complex interaction than either force could achieve alone.—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
1 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Hoodwink.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hoodwink. Accessed 10 May. 2026.
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