spoof

1 of 2

verb

spoofed; spoofing; spoofs

transitive verb

1
2
: to make good-natured fun of

spoof

2 of 2

noun

1
2
: a light humorous parody
spoofery noun
spoofy adjective

Examples of spoof in a Sentence

Verb spoofed overly competitive parents in a mockumentary about tryouts for a national T-ball team the newspaper was spoofed by a supposedly plausible claim of a UFO encounter Noun many viewers thought that the spoof of a television newscast was the real thing
Recent Examples on the Web
Verb
Microsoft was forced to fix a Windows Hello authentication bypass vulnerability in 2021, following a proof-of-concept that involved capturing an infrared image of a victim to spoof Windows Hello’s facial recognition feature. Tom Warren, The Verge, 22 Nov. 2023 How to further prevent spoofing Change passwords Always make sure your passwords are strong and complex. Kurt Knutsson, Fox News, 12 Sep. 2023 Troye Sivan is fully embracing the unique privilege of being spoofed on Saturday Night Live, even changing his Instagram profile picture to Timothée Chalamet (a.k.a. Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 13 Nov. 2023 Activision, Bungie, and Ubisoft have all been trying to block these hardware spoofing devices, with restrictions and bans in Call of Duty, Destiny 2, and Rainbow Six Siege. Tom Warren, The Verge, 30 Oct. 2023 In addition to Family Guy, Meghan and Prince Harry were also spoofed on South Park earlier this year. Stephanie Petit, Peoplemag, 24 Oct. 2023 The instruction from Boyle, the site’s notably pro-Trump editor, came after staffers had flagged a DeSantis commercial spoofing Dylan Mulvaney’s Bud Light video, which had generated a storm of anti-transgender backlash in conservative circles. Oliver Darcy, CNN, 28 Apr. 2023 To ensure that the token can’t be spoofed, it’s cryptographically signed with a unique string of data known as a certificate or key that the cloud service possesses, a kind of unforgeable stamp of authenticity. Andy Greenberg, WIRED, 12 July 2023 Specialists can use any one of a handful of easily accessible programs to spoof target customers’ phone numbers — which is what likely happened in Mr. Kabatznik’s case. Stacy Cowley, New York Times, 29 June 2023
Noun
In 2003, when K.C. made his first feature, an indie Blaxploitation spoof starring John called The Watermelon Heist, Shannon produced it. Gary Baum, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Nov. 2023 The mystery is even better this time, and the show gets more ambitious with its spoofs, covering everything from Wes Anderson movies to Regency-era romance to the tension of Hitchcock. Andrew Webster, The Verge, 3 Oct. 2023 Being able to use DeepMind’s Dream Track to make a goofy, TikTok-style T-Pain spoof has its appeal, a big one being that T-Pain is cool with it. WIRED, 17 Nov. 2023 The 2000 film was a spoof of multiple Halloween horror flicks wrapped into one. Angel Saunders, Peoplemag, 1 Nov. 2023 The humor of Ratmansky’s work, too—the satires and spoofs—depends on the audience’s familiarity with the ballet canon. Alice Robb, The New Republic, 16 Oct. 2023 Nine months later, the Blaxploitation spoof’s limited theatrical release and minimal box office gross didn’t stop its immediate fate as a cult classic. Brian Davids, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Sep. 2023 But the show is simply too earnest about the journalistic integrity of its heroines to come across as a deliberate spoof. Alison Herman, Variety, 13 Sep. 2023 During the pandemic, stores were closed, employees were laid off, there were allegations of a toxic and racist work culture, and Weiss would see a spoof of her Into the Gloss blog, with an Outta the Gloss Instagram grievance account. Jason Sheeler, Peoplemag, 8 Sep. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'spoof.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Verb

Spoof, a hoaxing game invented by Arthur Roberts †1933 English comedian

First Known Use

Verb

1889, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun

1889, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of spoof was in 1889

Dictionary Entries Near spoof

Cite this Entry

“Spoof.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spoof. Accessed 2 Dec. 2023.

Kids Definition

spoof

verb
ˈspüf
: to make good-natured fun of
spoof noun

More from Merriam-Webster on spoof

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