as in fooling
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as in tricking
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 hoodwinking
David Greising, Chicago Tribune, 24 Apr. 2026
Verb
Stadiums are notorious for their lack of multiplier impact, which is one reason these days why sports team owners, such as the McCaskey family that controls the Bears, have such a hard time hoodwinking governments into giving them direct subsidies to build their stadiums.
—David Greising, Chicago Tribune, 24 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hoodwinking
Noun
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No fooling, April brings some pretty interesting surprises on Netflix.—
K. Thor Jensen,
PC Magazine,
27 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Anchoring, scarcity and choice architecture aren’t about tricking people.—
David Meade,
Forbes.com,
14 May 2026
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The church hosts sure love tricking us into eating raw broccoli by serving it up in this creamy pasta salad.—
Kaitlyn Yarborough,
Southern Living,
13 May 2026
Noun
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They are accused of using several ruses to force their way into people’s homes, assaulting unsuspecting residents and holding them hostage for their own money, and demanding access to their crypto accounts.—
Andy Rose,
CNN Money,
14 May 2026
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To sustain her ruse, Suzanne discovers volumes of diaries written by the painter’s late wife.—
Ben Croll,
IndieWire,
12 May 2026
Verb
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He's accused of deceiving more than 6,500 pet owners and denying them promised burial services.—
Meghan Schiller,
CBS News,
8 May 2026
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Journalists must avoid deception, but the primary instance when it may be excused is in deceiving certain sources during undercover investigations on an issue of public importance.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
7 May 2026
Noun
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Skip the subterfuge as the sun and Mercury harmonize.—
USA TODAY,
USA Today,
14 May 2026
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Whether those suspicions were valid or a result of subterfuge by Connelly, the Nuggets ultimately traded up six spots to draft Holmes, sacrificing three future second-round picks.—
Bennett Durando,
Denver Post,
25 Apr. 2026
Noun
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What begins as a small con deepens when the painter’s shrewd agent (Gilles Lellouche) spots an opportunity, encouraging Suzanne to continue the deception as a way to revive his client’s creativity — and bankroll them both.—
Scott Roxborough,
HollywoodReporter,
12 May 2026
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Olivia Beech, America’s youngest female sommelier, tragically lost her sense of taste during COVID, but relied on her sharp sense of smell until she was fired for her deception.—
Paula L. Woods,
Los Angeles Times,
12 May 2026
Noun
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But those movies, in different ways, were about trickery and deceit, about drawing the audience into a head game of perception.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
14 May 2026
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That was about trickery in a tight situation.—
Michael Cox,
New York Times,
29 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Photograph by Glen Wilson / Lionsgate Fuqua’s low-key approach is both a natural expression of his personality and a shrewd stratagem to reassure people around him that everything is under control.—
Kelefa Sanneh,
New Yorker,
20 Apr. 2026
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There are some other fun stats in there, including a ranking of the game's most popular stratagems.—
Ian Stokes,
Space.com,
3 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Hoodwinking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hoodwinking. Accessed 18 May. 2026.
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