HOODWINKING Synonyms: 127 Similar and Opposite Words

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

Noun

No fooling, April brings some pretty interesting surprises on Netflix.

— K. Thor Jensen, PC Magazine, 27 Mar. 2026

Definition of fooling

Verb

Football is all about engaño (trickery) — looking one way and passing the other, feinting to go left and swiftly moving right, manipulating the opposition and tricking them to open up those little spaces.

— Xavi, New York Times, 19 July 2026
What’s far more eloquent is the episode with the witch Circe (a terrific Samantha Morton), whose habit of tricking and transforming men into animals is rendered in evocatively physical, body-horror-esque imagery.

— Alison Willmore, Vulture, 15 July 2026

Definition of tricking

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
From this perspective, Perseus’s ruse suggests that our traffic with images and imaging has less to do with likeness to life than its arrest and incapacitation.

— Jan Tumlir, Artforum, 5 Aug. 2026

Definition of ruse

Verb

Paul has long accused Fauci of deceiving Americans about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.

— Mary Kekatos, ABC News, 29 July 2026
The ensuing investigation ultimately revealed that Angela had framed Hadley and uncovered evidence of her long history of deceiving people to gain sympathy.

— Britt Hayes, Entertainment Weekly, 23 July 2026

Definition of deceiving

Noun

What subterfuge has the author devised within a sentence, and what chills of humor or irony will run across its surface as the subterfuge is discovered?

— Sabrina Jaszi, The Dial, 4 Aug. 2026
Her subterfuge eventually drives Frank to unknowingly hire Ariane’s own father to learn her identity.

— Air Mail, Air Mail, 18 July 2026

Definition of subterfuge

Noun

Her backstory is littered with half-truths and deceptions, including a lie that her mentally disabled younger sister was murdered after being kidnapped.

— Cheyenne Roundtree, Rolling Stone, 11 Aug. 2026
In modern times, as threats have evolved, deception with moving the president has been an integral part of the Secret Service protective methodologies.

— Donald J. Mihalek, ABC News, 11 Aug. 2026

Definition of deception

Noun

Football is all about engaño (trickery) — looking one way and passing the other, feinting to go left and swiftly moving right, manipulating the opposition and tricking them to open up those little spaces.

— Xavi, New York Times, 19 July 2026
Marc Cucurella and Pedro Porro have stretched defenses from the flanks, while Lamine Yamal has confused them with his trickery.

— Jibin Joseph, PC Magazine, 18 July 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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“Hoodwinking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hoodwinking. Accessed 12 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of hoodwinking

noun

verb

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