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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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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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
-
No fooling, April brings some pretty interesting surprises on Netflix.—
K. Thor Jensen,
PC Magazine,
27 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Posts from other Knicks fans say the user tried tricking them as well.—
Tim McNicholas,
CBS News,
12 June 2026
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Such techniques typically work by tricking the user into approving a request to approve a device owned by the attacker instead.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
3 June 2026
Noun
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Olive’s fake-dating ruse stems from wanting to let her best friend Anh (Marsh) date her crush Jeremy (Duvernay).—
Dessi Gomez,
Deadline,
11 June 2026
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Adolf Hitler wasn’t completely fooled, and about four million mines were planted on the beaches, but the ruse worked well enough that, even as the landings got underway, some German commanders doubted Normandy was the main attack.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
3 June 2026
Verb
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He was also accused of deceiving escrow agents to secure the release of pre-construction condo deposits and then misappropriated those funds for personal expenses unrelated to the developments.—
Jay Weaver
June 6,
Miami Herald,
6 June 2026
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While the prominence resembles a fiery eruption, Johnston notes that looks can be deceiving.—
Daisy Dobrijevic,
Space.com,
5 June 2026
Noun
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If the Allies had had to postpone the invasion for the next moon-tide alignment later in the month, the subterfuge would have been exposed.—
Andrea Thompson,
Scientific American,
29 May 2026
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Jakirovic was speaking before the EFL’s independent commission came down heavy on Southampton’s subterfuge.—
Philip Buckingham,
New York Times,
22 May 2026
Noun
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According to research from Charlemagne Labs, an AI-security startup, AI models already widely available can now sustain believable, multi-turn deception—conversations that span many back-and-forth exchanges rather than a single message—which is the hardest part of real-world scams.—
Beatrice Nolan,
Fortune,
9 June 2026
-
That was a deliberate lie, deception and/or omission.—
Don Stacom,
Hartford Courant,
9 June 2026
Noun
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But ultimately, Williams believes AI can be an extension of editing trickery that has existed since the dawn of filmmaking.—
Jake Kanter,
Deadline,
27 May 2026
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Consider, too, relatively new forms of trickery, such as manipulating substitution procedures or spying on rivals.—
Cesar R. Torres,
The Conversation,
26 May 2026
Noun
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Edward Bernays might have urged consultation with a shrink like his uncle, Dr. Freud, to help communicate their conflicting stratagems.—
Peter Bart,
Deadline,
4 June 2026
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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
Cite this Entry
“Hoodwinking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hoodwinking. Accessed 16 Jun. 2026.
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