hoodwinking 1 of 2

noun

as in fooling

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hoodwinking

2 of 2

verb

present participle of hoodwink
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

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 hoodwinking
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
  1. fooling
  2. tricking
  3. ruse
  4. deceiving
  5. subterfuge
  6. deception
  7. trickery
  8. stratagem
Noun
  • No fooling, April brings some pretty interesting surprises on Netflix.
    — K. Thor Jensen, PC Magazine, 27 Mar. 2026
Definition of fooling
Verb
  • RatHat relies heavily on tricking someone into installing a malicious Android app and approving powerful permissions.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 2 Oct. 2026
  • Wardle found that a simple variation of ClickFix attack—a technique that has become remarkably effective in tricking people into infecting their devices—is all that’s required for an attacker to take control of a Muse account.
    — Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 21 Sep. 2026
Definition of tricking
Noun
  • But as their love affair gets steamier and Haru frantically tries to maintain her elaborate ruse, the dance numbers lose their luster.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 25 Sep. 2026
  • 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
Definition of ruse
Verb
  • Pitinan Packable Rain Jacket With Hood, $27 Packing for a short weekend getaway is deceiving.
    — Lydia Mansel, Travel + Leisure, 24 Sep. 2026
  • Six years later, over 2,000 colleges and universities are still test-optional – although the categorization may be deceiving, as some scholarships may depend on SAT scores.
    — Beth Kania-Gosche, The Conversation, 22 Sep. 2026
Definition of deceiving
Noun
  • This subterfuge makes sense, since what these people reveal implicates their superiors.
    — Siddhant Adlakha, IndieWire, 10 Sep. 2026
  • The cover art sets it up perfectly, a dreamlike subterfuge that transforms the Villarreals into mythological Greek heroines.
    — Selena Fragassi, SPIN, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of subterfuge
Noun
  • Magpies are opportunistic scavengers, incredibly cunning and deceitful and capable of calculated deception.
    — Voice of the People, New York Daily News, 28 Sep. 2026
  • This experience combines identity deception, autonomous agent action and software supply-chain risk, along with social engineering devised by an agent and directed against a human.
    — Carlo Tortora Brayda, Forbes.com, 28 Sep. 2026
Definition of deception
Noun
  • Thursday is The New York Times’s favorite day of the week to publish crosswords with twists, surprises or extra layers of trickery to puzzle over.
    — Sean McGowan, New York Times, 1 Oct. 2026
  • There was money, manipulation, secret meetings with shady characters in China, fake identities, lies, trickery, and deceit.
    — Eamon Javers, CNBC, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of trickery
Noun
  • There’s a delightful secret history of Hollywood directors whose ruses and stratagems bought them an unusual amount of leeway with their scripts.
    — Richard Brody, New Yorker, 5 Aug. 2026
  • Through Elizabeth’s rise from servant to visionary who resisted Henry VIII’s break with the Roman Catholic Church to gain a divorce, Brown explores historical women’s stratagems for self-determination.
    — Monitor reviewers, Christian Science Monitor, 17 Apr. 2026
Definition of stratagem

Browse Nearby Words

hoodwinked
hoodwinking
hoodwinks
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Cite this Entry

“Hoodwinking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hoodwinking. Accessed 3 Oct. 2026.

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