1
as in to trick
to cause to believe what is untrue
my friends faked me out for a whole day, letting me think that they had forgotten my birthday
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to evade
to elude (an opponent in a sports contest) by making a deceptive or agile movement
used a quick between-the-legs dribble to fake out the flat-footed defender
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of fake out
And there's at least one thing that felt designed specifically to fake out book-readers.
—
ArsTechnica, 18 Apr. 2025
Marner faked out Swayman and tucked the winner behind the goalie.
—Fluto Shinzawa, The Athletic, 26 Feb. 2025
This opening fake out is a direct lift from the book.
—Chris Klimek, Vulture, 20 Feb. 2025
One of the most unusual cases handled during his tenure was filed in April against 12 people accused of designing and running a decade-long scheme to fake out California’s smog check system for automobiles, Talbert said.
—Sharon Bernstein, Sacramento Bee, 7 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for fake out
ArsTechnica, 18 Apr. 2025
Marner faked out Swayman and tucked the winner behind the goalie.
—Fluto Shinzawa, The Athletic, 26 Feb. 2025
This opening fake out is a direct lift from the book.
—Chris Klimek, Vulture, 20 Feb. 2025
One of the most unusual cases handled during his tenure was filed in April against 12 people accused of designing and running a decade-long scheme to fake out California’s smog check system for automobiles, Talbert said.
—Sharon Bernstein, Sacramento Bee, 7 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for fake out
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fake out
Verb
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In the ensuing hours, Hernandez asked several times to go home, said the officers were trying to trick him, sobbed, clutched at his stomach, lay on the floor in a fetal position, had a fentanyl patch placed on his chest to treat his chronic pain, and mentioned his mental illness diagnoses.—
Joaquin Sapien,
ProPublica,
28 July 2025
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In the series, Haddix revealed to the audience that Tonka was alive and celebrated her tricking the court.—
Minyvonne Burke,
NBC news,
24 July 2025
Verb
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Cromartie also took a plea deal for charges including strangulation, third degree assault of a police officer, first degree wanton endangerment, disarming a peace officer, fleeing or evading police, resisting arrest and violation of a foreign protective order, according to court records.—
Killian Baarlaer,
The Courier-Journal,
18 July 2025
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Of late, Netanyahu has attempted to fudge the issue by pushing through legislation that would create a technical process for drafting the ultra-Orthodox but in practice make the new requirements easy to evade.—
Yair Rosenberg,
The Atlantic,
17 July 2025
Verb
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His impersonation is so convincing that Lu and Shin are initially fooled.—
Allison DeGrushe Published,
EW.com,
14 July 2025
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The Mets couldn’t pick up his slider and were fooled on his changeup.—
Abbey Mastracco,
New York Daily News,
13 July 2025
Verb
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The Headway study found that some employees don’t fake the scroll .—
Bryan Robinson,
Forbes.com,
25 July 2025
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When confronted by Crooks, both Butler and Antoon denied that the case had been faked.—
Lynsey Eidell,
People.com,
23 July 2025
Verb
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More than 20 children are in the custody of a Southern California child-welfare agency as authorities investigate allegations of child abuse and whether surrogate mothers were deceived by a Los Angeles-area couple.—
Thao Nguyen,
USA Today,
17 July 2025
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And then he was wishy-washy, went back and forth, and she was deceived and disappointed by him.—
Rebecca Alter,
Vulture,
15 July 2025
Verb
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Less than two hours after sunrise, with the shadows still blue and slanting hard in a dense growth of balsam firs and spruces, the baby bird blundered into a fine black net strung along the ridgeline of Mount Mansfield, at 4,393 feet Vermont’s tallest mountain.—
Madeline Bodin,
Smithsonian Magazine,
27 June 2025
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The staircase wound down, down, down, light provided by illumination globes strung along the walls.—
Dalton Ross,
EW.com,
29 May 2025
Verb
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Arsenal There is a danger of being sucked in by the lure of Arsenal, who have looked ‘nearly there’ for a few years now.—
The Athletic UK Staff,
New York Times,
28 Apr. 2025
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The cop car pulls in and there’s a wireless link to the station that just sucks in all the video in real time.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
3 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Fake out.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fake%20out. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025.
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