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
-
Even commercial amusements that played with illusion, such as trompe l’oeil paintings and chess-playing automatons, helped train Americans of all classes to identify the signs of deception.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
9 June 2025
-
Recently recovered emails, messages, photos, and videos reveal the depths of the deception.—
Dominic Patten,
Deadline,
9 June 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
-
The police investigation that followed included surveillance and a ruse where investigators answered local prostitution ads and were directed to the home.—
Nate Gartrell,
Mercury News,
16 June 2025
-
But this ruse is like the broader trans movement itself, which obliges you to deny the evidence dangling before your own eyes.—
The Editors,
National Review,
4 June 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
-
In a nod to Chicago’s long history of bartender magicians, bars will be set up as much for trickery as for cocktails.—
Chris Jones,
Chicago Tribune,
15 May 2025
-
Medicaid fraud patterns continue to proliferate, escaping the notice of human workers doing their best to spot such trickery.—
Michael Ashley,
Forbes.com,
11 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
When the magazine writer Dylan (Daryl Wein) and his girlfriend and photographer, Lucy (Abigail Cowen), descend upon the rocker Milo (Jack Farthing), there’s subterfuge afoot.—
Lisa Kennedy,
New York Times,
1 May 2025
-
The only safe refuge, 20 miles away, is the federal garrison at Harpers Ferry, but reaching it will require much subterfuge and even more luck.—
Alida Becker,
New York Times,
30 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
Tiffany Renee Johnson does well in showing the two sides of Senegalese braider Aminata, who is proud and dignified with her peers, but vulnerable to the wiles of her cheating, out-of-work husband.—
Pam Kragen,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
23 May 2025
-
Still, the unscrupulous Moss uses his wiles and his belligerent way with words to try selling Aaronow on the idea of breaking into the office.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
3 Sep. 2019
Noun
-
For people like Soriano, however, the elections are about more than political stratagem and determining which family holds the most nominal power.—
Chad de Guzman,
Time,
13 May 2025
-
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
Cite this Entry
“Fooling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fooling. Accessed 26 Jun. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share