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
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Recent Examples of fooling
James Pearce, The Athletic, 2 Jan. 2025
The ultimate aim is, with the use of multiple layers of such transformations, fooling malware classifiers into thinking malicious code is, in fact, totally benign.
—Davey Winder, Forbes, 24 Dec. 2024
But Khamenei’s bravado isn’t fooling anyone.
—Arash Azizi, The Atlantic, 17 Dec. 2024
No, your calendar is not fooling you; December is here, and Christmas is right around the corner.
—Greg Manlove, Rolling Stone, 12 Dec. 2024
At one point, Stevenson, who is entering his second season, even let out a deep sigh when asked about the difficulty of covering Allen, a seasoned vet skilled in fooling defensive backs.
—Jon Greenberg, The Athletic, 21 Aug. 2024
Feminist activism wasn’t based on fooling women to give up something great.
—Marissa C. Rhodes / Made By History, TIME, 8 Oct. 2024
Verb
Liverpool are regularly seeing apps that replicate the appearance of genuine tickets — fooling not just first-time visitors to Anfield.
—James Pearce, The Athletic, 2 Jan. 2025
The ultimate aim is, with the use of multiple layers of such transformations, fooling malware classifiers into thinking malicious code is, in fact, totally benign.
—Davey Winder, Forbes, 24 Dec. 2024
But Khamenei’s bravado isn’t fooling anyone.
—Arash Azizi, The Atlantic, 17 Dec. 2024
No, your calendar is not fooling you; December is here, and Christmas is right around the corner.
—Greg Manlove, Rolling Stone, 12 Dec. 2024
At one point, Stevenson, who is entering his second season, even let out a deep sigh when asked about the difficulty of covering Allen, a seasoned vet skilled in fooling defensive backs.
—Jon Greenberg, The Athletic, 21 Aug. 2024
Feminist activism wasn’t based on fooling women to give up something great.
—Marissa C. Rhodes / Made By History, TIME, 8 Oct. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fooling
Noun
-
Tacopina recently appeared on The Breakfast Club to break down key elements of the defense’s strategy in proving Rocky’s innocence, and the plaintiff’s, A$AP Relli, lies and deception.—
Preezy Brown,
VIBE.com,
25 Feb. 2025
-
Today the art world is reeling over not just her deception, but also the stain Ms. Schiff has left on the largely unregulated business of art advising.—
Sarah Maslin Nir,
New York Times,
18 Feb. 2025
Verb
-
Nile and Bernard seemed like best friends, always joking and very excited.—
David Browne,
Rolling Stone,
22 Dec. 2024
-
Not just the kind of vaudevillian two guys joking around with each other on stage, but even just as individual comedians.—
Justin Koreis,
Rolling Stone,
21 Dec. 2024
Noun
-
Is this to maintain the ruse of amateurism to go along with the players’ professed allegiance to and love of this particular university, however temporary?—
Reader Commentary,
Baltimore Sun,
14 Feb. 2025
-
Through a clever ruse, the trio manages to escape, but Léo is shot and starts going into labor.—
Emily Blackwood,
People.com,
14 Jan. 2025
Verb
-
Arizona's temperature can be deceiving and deadly.—
Shelby Slade,
The Arizona Republic,
2 Jan. 2025
-
As Soon As This Week That number is certainly deceiving, though.—
Rob Reischel,
Forbes,
30 Dec. 2024
Noun
-
Obfuscation and trickery are necessary and effective tactics.—
Nina Metz,
Chicago Tribune,
5 Feb. 2025
-
Where Ricken sees benevolence and opportunity, Devon sees only wiles and trickery.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes,
16 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
This sequence introduces The Agency as a maze of contradictory nationalist motivations, paranoia-inducing surveillance, and prevalent subterfuge — and, in its hidden center, a love story.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
24 Jan. 2025
-
Using a figurehead Then again, Trump might just want to avoid all of these legal subterfuges by following the example of George and Lurleen Wallace.—
Philip Klinkner,
The Conversation,
16 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
The crowd is made up of hard-core skiers and riders undeterred by the wiles of nature or the perils of big-mountain skiing.—
Evie Carrick,
Travel + Leisure,
10 Feb. 2025
-
Several leaders have put out appeals to get funding for salaries related to the PEPFAR program, wile others have terminated staff running their HIV programs, the head of a non-profit told the Miami Herald.—
Jacqueline Charles,
Miami Herald,
6 Feb. 2025
Noun
-
Its biting satire is complimented by engaging mechanics like the stratagems.—
David Faris,
Newsweek,
28 Dec. 2024
-
The competitors are in a trancelike state, building a stratagem.—
Maddie Connors,
Los Angeles Times,
20 Dec. 2024
Cite this Entry
“Fooling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fooling. Accessed 3 Mar. 2025.
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