string along

verb

strung along; stringing along; strings along

transitive verb

1
: to keep waiting
strung him along until the boss was back from lunch
2
: deceive, fool
stringing us along with ruses and red herringsJohn Powers

intransitive verb

: go along, agree
held her tongue and strung along with the rest of them

Examples of string along in a Sentence

the student succeeded in stringing even his teachers along with his tales of family hardships
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.
And in the weeks since, events across the U.S and even in Europe have popped up and had at least one interesting tidbit to keep people strung along. Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 21 Nov. 2024 Other times, a team might be strung along by a player with little interest, but who needs a plausible threat to spark a bidding war for their preferred destination. Sean McIndoe, The Athletic, 5 July 2024 Spooled up inside our devices, wrapped around our walls, strung along our streets, millions of tons of thin metallic threads do the job of electrifying the world. Gregory Barber, WIRED, 14 July 2022 Not asking me out, of course, just stringing along a purposeless conversation. R29 Team, refinery29.com, 2 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for string along 

Word History

First Known Use

1914, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of string along was in 1914

Dictionary Entries Near string along

Cite this Entry

“String along.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/string%20along. Accessed 24 Dec. 2024.

Kids Definition

string along

verb
1
: to go along : agree
string along with the majority
2
: deceive sense 1, fool
would string us along with false promises
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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