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
-
In the beginning, each player is secretly assigned as either a Faithful or a Traitor, setting the stage for an intense game of deception, strategy and survival.—
Jordana Comiter,
People.com,
7 Mar. 2025
-
After weeks of treachery and deception, the final roundtable has been viewed, and the winner or winners for The Traitors Season 3 have been revealed.—
Armando Tinoco,
Deadline,
6 Mar. 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
-
The idea of doctors posing as podcasters to make men more suggestible is already a winner, but the language the doctors employ to complete the ruse ratchets up the comedy.—
Joe Berkowitz,
Vulture,
26 Jan. 2025
-
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
Verb
-
Arizona's temperature can be deceiving and deadly.—
Shelby Slade,
The Arizona Republic,
2 Jan. 2025
-
In July, Boeing agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud for deceiving the Federal Aviation Administration regulators who approved the 737 Max.—
Paul Wiseman,
Chicago Tribune,
30 Dec. 2024
Noun
-
Yet even as that’s happening, Patterson stages it all with an elliptical trickery that keeps the film knowingly off-balance.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
11 Mar. 2025
-
The Spark Neo lacks the directional surround-sound trickery of the Boss headphones, and comes with just four tone presets loaded into the system out of the box.—
Paul Ridden,
New Atlas,
10 Feb. 2025
Noun
-
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
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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
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 16 Mar. 2025.
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