FOOLING Synonyms: 172 Similar and Opposite Words

fooling 1 of 3

adjective

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

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fooling

2 of 3

noun

as in deception

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fooling

3 of 3

verb

present participle of fool

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

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in kidding

to make jokes an edgy comedian fooling with an appreciative college audience

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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

Noun

No fooling, April brings some pretty interesting surprises on Netflix. — K. Thor Jensen, PC Magazine, 27 Mar. 2026

Verb

Anybody hoping that a Netanyahu defeat in October and the emergence of a less controversial successor will reset the table is likely fooling themselves. — Daniel Depetris, Chicago Tribune, 18 Aug. 2026 Throughout all the commotion, Romelu Lukaku acted as decoy, holding on to the ball, fooling everyone, including the TV producer, who pulled up a graphic showing his recent penalty record. — Geir Jordet, New York Times, 15 July 2026 Speaking on Harvard Business School’s The Founder Mindset podcast, hosted by senior lecturer and serial entrepreneur Reza Satchu, the Shark Tank investor argued that anyone trying to balance a young company against the rest of their life is fooling themselves. — Sydney Lake, Fortune, 17 June 2026 The other is fooling humans, particularly the dwindling number of journalists, critics, and other gatekeepers who are still capable of conferring legitimacy by paying attention. — Lane Brown, Vulture, 15 May 2026 After killing Minnesota’s first power play, the Avalanche opened the scoring when defenseman Sam Malinski scored his first career playoff goal, fooling Wallstedt with a rising wrist shot. — Jess Myers, Twin Cities, 4 May 2026 But anyone in the auto industry who didn’t feel like something was going to happen in China five years ago was fooling themselves. — Jamie Lincoln Kitman, Rolling Stone, 24 Apr. 2026 Politicians are fooling themselves about the political power of health-conscious moms. — Nicholas Florko, The Atlantic, 22 Apr. 2026 But Baio says Kassotis has been fooling people for years. — Erin Moriarty, CBS News, 8 Mar. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for fooling

Adjective

To get a sense of his whole deal, look no further than the half-mocking, half-earnest title of his latest album, Country!

— Jonathan Bernstein, Rolling Stone, 23 Sep. 2025

Definition of mocking

Noun

Prevention of fraud, deception and public accountability are reasons given for this suggestion.

— Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 24 Aug. 2026
As the investigation unfolded, what initially appeared to be a daring ransom scheme evolved into a complex story of obsession, deception, and unexpected motives.

— Andreas Wiseman, Deadline, 21 Aug. 2026

Definition of deception

Verb

In many cases, the robot tail wags the living dog by tricking it—tricking us—into caring about obscure metrics, then gamifying the process of improving them.

— Hillary Busis, Vanity Fair, 28 Aug. 2026
Children were taken by tricking mothers, who were told their baby had died during childbirth.

— Ashoka, Forbes.com, 28 Aug. 2026

Definition of tricking

Verb

To this day, Ryan still isn’t sure if Hanks was being serious or joking.

— Ashlyn Robinette, PEOPLE, 21 Aug. 2026
The beverage brands Liquid Death and Garage Beer teamed up to create the ad, which features former NFL player Jason Kelce joking about using people’s pee to cool the AI data centers.

— Michael Kan, PC Magazine, 19 Aug. 2026

Definition of joking

Noun

There’s a fun bit when Green pulls her badge to walk Reacher out through the police cordon, pretending to have placed him under arrest, but the ruse doesn’t last long.

— Chris Klimek, Vulture, 26 Aug. 2026
Patterson was accused of pretending to eat the same portion, and of feigning illness in an elaborate ruse to suggest she’d also been poisoned.

— Hilary Whiteman, CNN Money, 20 Aug. 2026

Definition of ruse

Verb

Your eyes aren't deceiving you — the little delivery robots rolling down Washington DC streets are becoming a more common sight.

— Mike Stunson, USA Today, 28 Aug. 2026
Oura is facing accusations of deceiving customers about the accuracy of its sleep-tracking features on its popular smart rings.

— James Peckham, PC Magazine, 21 Aug. 2026

Definition of deceiving

Noun

Football is all about engaño (trickery) — looking one way and passing the other, feinting to go left and swiftly moving right, manipulating the opposition and tricking them to open up those little spaces.

— Xavi, New York Times, 19 July 2026
Marc Cucurella and Pedro Porro have stretched defenses from the flanks, while Lamine Yamal has confused them with his trickery.

— Jibin Joseph, PC Magazine, 18 July 2026