hoaxed; hoaxing; hoaxes
: to trick into believing or accepting as genuine something false and often preposterous
were hoaxed by the website
hoaxer
noun
1
: an act intended to trick or dupe : imposture
the victim of a cruel hoax
assumed the bomb threat was just a hoax
2
: something accepted or established by fraud or fabrication
believes the Loch Ness Monster is a hoax
a literary hoax
Synonyms
Examples of hoax in a Sentence
Verb
a skilled forger who hoaxed the art world into believing that the paintings were long-lost Vermeers
Noun
The bomb threat is probably a hoax, but we should still evacuate the building.
She was the victim of a cruel hoax.
Recent Examples on the Web
Ali Breland, The Atlantic, 10 June 2024
Such criticism has led some police to respond more aggressively to hoax school shooting calls.
—Ashley Belanger, Ars Technica, 5 Oct. 2023
CBS News, 11 Dec. 2024
Jones’s site was put up for sale as part of his bankruptcy case in the wake of the nearly $1.5 billion that courts ordered Jones to pay families tied to the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings for falsely calling the massacre a hoax.
—Alexis Simendinger, The Hill, 11 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for hoax 
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Verb
Doxxed addresses have led to hoax 911 calls that prompted SWAT teams to raid victims’ homes.
—Ali Breland, The Atlantic, 10 June 2024
Such criticism has led some police to respond more aggressively to hoax school shooting calls.
—Ashley Belanger, Ars Technica, 5 Oct. 2023
Noun
Jones repeatedly called the shooting that killed 20 children and six educators a hoax staged by actors and aimed at increasing gun control.
—CBS News, 11 Dec. 2024
Jones’s site was put up for sale as part of his bankruptcy case in the wake of the nearly $1.5 billion that courts ordered Jones to pay families tied to the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings for falsely calling the massacre a hoax.
—Alexis Simendinger, The Hill, 11 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for hoax
Dictionary Entries Near hoax
Cite this Entry
“Hoax.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hoax. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.
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