hoodwink

verb

hood·wink ˈhu̇d-ˌwiŋk

hoodwinked; hoodwinking; hoodwinks

Synonyms of hoodwink next

transitive verb

: to deceive by false appearance : dupe

people who allow themselves to be hoodwinked by such promises

archaic : blindfold

obsolete : hide

hoodwinker noun

Did you know?

We usually use the word wink to refer to a brief shutting of one eye, but hoodwink draws on an older and more obscure meaning of wink covered in our Unabridged Dictionary: “to close one’s eyes.” To hoodwink someone originally was to effectively do that kind of winking for the person; it meant to “cover someone’s eyes,” as with a hood or a blindfold. This 16th-century term soon came to be used figuratively for veiling the truth. “The public ... is as easily hood-winked,” wrote the Irish physician Charles Lucas in 1756, by which time the figurative use had been around for decades—and today, that meaning of the word is far from winking out.

Examples of hoodwink in a Sentence

Don't let yourself be hoodwinked into buying things you don't need. Tom Sawyer famously hoodwinked the other boys into thinking there was nothing more enjoyable than whitewashing a fence.

Recent Examples on the Web

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.

Cobbs often played characters who exuded a quiet authority as well as a world-weary immunity from being hoodwinked: people who saw more and further than anyone else and whose knowledge was not always heeded. —

Matt Zoller Seitz, Vulture, 3 July 2024 Horror diehards will likely walk away feeling hoodwinked by a freaky trailer that promises something more extreme than what gets delivered. —

Randy Myers, The Mercury News, 6 Nov. 2024 Charismatic leaders hoodwink highly intelligent, creative people, too. —

David Oliver, USA TODAY, 31 Oct. 2024 There were also those who despised the film on sight, who felt hoodwinked by the buzz that had built around its seasick camerawork and unwashed stars shouting at each other and dripping snot on the lens. —

A.a. Dowd, Vulture, 30 July 2024 See all Example Sentences for hoodwink