as in joking
marked by or expressive of mild or good-natured teasing
ribbed him with fooling comments about how much his hair had grayed
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
as in deception
Synonyms & Similar Words
1
as in tricking
to cause to believe what is untrue
I fooled him into thinking that we were driving to the store, not to his surprise birthday party
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in kidding
to make jokes
an edgy comedian fooling with an appreciative college audience
Synonyms & Similar Words
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 fooling
Beren Cross, New York Times, 8 Apr. 2025
Each plays a role in fooling their foe, who captures the turtle, while the deer, heeding the turtle’s good counsel, manages a sly escape.
—John Nemec, The Conversation, 7 Apr. 2025
Myatt has already served time for his fooling art auction houses and others into buying his copies of others’ art, and got out of jail for doing just that in 1999.
—The Editors Of Artnews, ARTnews.com, 1 Apr. 2025
The Naperville City Council election is April 1 (not fooling).
—Naperville Sun, Chicago Tribune, 18 Mar. 2025
Chunky and at times fooling no one with its meandering character logic, there’s a reason most of the awards this film went to Hopkins.
—Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 17 Mar. 2025
Though the Huskies turned it around in the second half and got close, nobody was fooling anybody.
—Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 15 Mar. 2025
Those on the right who make excuses for Tate aren’t just fooling themselves.
—Liam Siegler, National Review, 12 Mar. 2025
Anyone who says otherwise is fooling themselves.
—Efrat Lachter, Fox News, 25 Feb. 2025
Verb
James cuts back inside onto his right foot, fooling the defender, rather than going to the byline off his left foot.
—Beren Cross, New York Times, 8 Apr. 2025
Each plays a role in fooling their foe, who captures the turtle, while the deer, heeding the turtle’s good counsel, manages a sly escape.
—John Nemec, The Conversation, 7 Apr. 2025
Myatt has already served time for his fooling art auction houses and others into buying his copies of others’ art, and got out of jail for doing just that in 1999.
—The Editors Of Artnews, ARTnews.com, 1 Apr. 2025
The Naperville City Council election is April 1 (not fooling).
—Naperville Sun, Chicago Tribune, 18 Mar. 2025
Chunky and at times fooling no one with its meandering character logic, there’s a reason most of the awards this film went to Hopkins.
—Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 17 Mar. 2025
Though the Huskies turned it around in the second half and got close, nobody was fooling anybody.
—Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 15 Mar. 2025
Those on the right who make excuses for Tate aren’t just fooling themselves.
—Liam Siegler, National Review, 12 Mar. 2025
Anyone who says otherwise is fooling themselves.
—Efrat Lachter, Fox News, 25 Feb. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fooling
Noun
-
In another case, Balmer pleaded guilty in 2016 to forgery and theft by deception charges, court documents show.—
Zoe Sottile,
CNN Money,
14 Apr. 2025
-
Imposter syndrome is an internal struggle with feeling like a fraud despite being qualified, whereas career catfishing is an active deception.—
Cheryl Robinson,
Forbes.com,
13 Apr. 2025
Verb
-
For myself and many of my classmates, the four-story Forever 21 in Times Square was the most exciting part of our senior-class trip to New York City—not joking!—
Kaitlyn Tiffany,
The Atlantic,
18 Mar. 2025
-
And, everyone was joking about it behind his back.—
Todd Nordstrom,
Forbes,
14 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
Richie buys Harry's ruse regarding Tommy's murder, but there's a catch.—
Matt Cabral,
EW.com,
20 Apr. 2025
-
The wedding started as an elaborate three-way ruse concocted by Wai-Tung, a gay Taiwanese American man; his white boyfriend, Simon (Mitchell Lichtenstein); and Wei-Wei, an undocumented Chinese immigrant.—
Justin Chang,
New Yorker,
19 Apr. 2025
Verb
-
The show, hosted by actor Alan Cumming and set in a remote Scottish castle, features reality TV veterans and celebrities working together—and often deceiving each other—in challenges for a cash prize.—
Raja Krishnamoorthi,
MSNBC Newsweek,
9 Apr. 2025
-
Appearances, though, can be deceiving.—
Bob Harkins,
New York Times,
8 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
That narrative decision fits with Saxon’s ethos to use real skills (sculpting, puppetry, painting) and not only computer trickery to accomplish their lofty goals.—
Carlos Aguilar,
Variety,
27 Jan. 2025
-
Criticisms and claims of trickery are at times pointed out.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
4 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
Other times, the responsible parties engage in active subterfuge.—
Sarah Stillman,
New Yorker,
14 Apr. 2025
-
His delivery of Mantel’s dialogue—modern, intelligent, bristling with implication and subterfuge—is mesmerizingly clear.—
Taylor Antrim,
Vogue,
20 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
Finn Bjork totaled 16 points and 12 rebounds wile Dom Taylor poured in 18 points as No. 6 Somerset Berkley advanced to the Division 2 State title game with a 66-58 win over No. 7 Masconomet on Monday night at the Clark Athletic Center Gymnasium on the campus of UMass Boston.—
Matt Feld,
Boston Herald,
11 Mar. 2025
-
That seems like an awfully optimistic reading of Trump’s strategic wiles.—
David Remnick,
The New Yorker,
9 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
The scene is straight out of a stratagem by Pier Paolo Pasolini (Bertolucci’s mentor), but Palud takes it literally without applying comparable ideological critique to the rest of her film.—
Armond White,
National Review,
28 Mar. 2025
-
Its biting satire is complimented by engaging mechanics like the stratagems.—
David Faris,
Newsweek,
28 Dec. 2024
Cite this Entry
“Fooling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fooling. Accessed 23 Apr. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share