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
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
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This capability to detect deception should be a warning to everyone who relies on AI for critical thinking tasks.—
Jodie Cook,
Forbes.com,
31 Mar. 2025
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Not only do language barriers complicate your talking with her parents, but the deception has already begun — this girl has been regularly visiting your home under false pretenses.—
Kwame Anthony Appiah,
New York Times,
28 Mar. 2025
Verb
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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
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This is, of course, a ruse to put Rick in the same room with Jim, who, according to his mother on her deathbed, killed his do-gooder dad.—
Judy Berman,
Time,
31 Mar. 2025
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Frank This character doing all the heavy lifting to keep Rick’s ruse afloat and Sam Rockwell doing all the heavy lifting to keep this plot interesting: Thank you for your service, gentlemen.—
Jessica M. Goldstein,
Vulture,
31 Mar. 2025
Verb
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Arizona's temperature can be deceiving and deadly.—
Shelby Slade,
The Arizona Republic,
2 Jan. 2025
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As Soon As This Week That number is certainly deceiving, though.—
Rob Reischel,
Forbes,
30 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Criticisms and claims of trickery are at times pointed out.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
4 Apr. 2025
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But there is no science supporting this trickery in the case of the weight-loss drugs.—
Stephen Moore,
Boston Herald,
21 Mar. 2025
Noun
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His delivery of Mantel’s dialogue—modern, intelligent, bristling with implication and subterfuge—is mesmerizingly clear.—
Taylor Antrim,
Vogue,
20 Mar. 2025
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With a bit of guidance, navigating between the classic go-to’s and the newer dining options are scattered throughout the properties can lead to incredible culinary discoveries, plenty of popping champagne bottles and even a dash of historical subterfuge.—
Alissa Fitzgerald,
Forbes,
22 Feb. 2025
Noun
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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
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That seems like an awfully optimistic reading of Trump’s strategic wiles.—
David Remnick,
The New Yorker,
9 Mar. 2025
Noun
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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
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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 16 Apr. 2025.
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