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
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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
Examples Sentences
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Recent Examples of fooling
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
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
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In firing off nuclear threats, Putin is burnishing his role as a master of deception.Kevin Holden Platt, Forbes, 18 Dec. 2024
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The paper adds to a small but growing body of evidence that today’s most advanced AI models are becoming capable of strategic deception.Billy Perrigo, TIME, 18 Dec. 2024
Verb
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Nile and Bernard seemed like best friends, always joking and very excited.David Browne, Rolling Stone, 22 Dec. 2024
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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
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His repetitive claim of being open and transparent is a ruse.Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 23 Dec. 2024
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Still, even if his insanity plea is a ruse or even a supremely deadpan joke, this CIA isn't going to make its way onto anyone's list of best companies to work for.Tom Gliatto, People.com, 20 Dec. 2024
Verb
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The show is all about performance, as the only way to win the game is by deceiving the others.Etan Vlessing, The Hollywood Reporter, 18 Dec. 2024
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Longstanding consumer protection laws prohibit business in other industries from deceiving consumers about fees and pricing.Megan Cerullo, CBS News, 17 Dec. 2024
Noun
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The company summoned all its acoustical trickery to target the sound so that music and podcasts almost seem to appear in your head for intimate yet airy performance.Ryan Waniata, WIRED, 9 Dec. 2024
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But sometimes, all that’s required to open up a room is a little visual trickery: A coat of paint in the right shade can instantly make even the most cramped kitchen feel airy and bright.Betsy Cribb Watson, Southern Living, 6 Dec. 2024
Noun
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In the past, Yellowstone characters have pulled off relatively elaborate acts of subterfuge and scheming with multilayered plans that need lots of arguing and surprise twists and time — like, several episodes’ worth of time.Kathryn VanArendonk, Vulture, 16 Dec. 2024
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This content, much of it clearly generated by AI rather than intended to deceive—a medium of crude self-expression, not sophisticated subterfuge—may have been the technology’s biggest impact on the 2024 presidential election.Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 10 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Meanwhile, Tori and Rachel form a tentative alliance, planning to exert their feminine wiles over their respective male allies to keep each other safe.Emma Sharpe, Vulture, 23 Oct. 2024
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For Chandler, a pink bunny suit costume activates his sensitive nature, while Phoebe deals with the wiles of her evil twin Ursula.Cady Lang, TIME, 21 Oct. 2024
Noun
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The competitors are in a trancelike state, building a stratagem.Maddie Connors, Los Angeles Times, 20 Dec. 2024
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This stratagem was exacerbated by prosecutors’ racializing of the case.The Editors, National Review, 9 Dec. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near fooling
Cite this Entry
“Fooling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fooling. Accessed 30 Dec. 2024.
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