1
as in tricked
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
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in joked
to make jokes
an edgy comedian fooling with an appreciative college audience
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Recent Examples of fooled
Those who love a bagel aren't to be fooled though, and the hearty breakfast sandwich has been missed since being removed from the menu in 2021.
—
Kaitlyn Yarborough, Southern Living, 11 May 2026
Give Plants Enough Space Don’t be fooled by the size of the seedling at planting time.
—Megan Hughes, Better Homes & Gardens, 9 May 2026
Other investigations showed Darsee had fooled co-authors of many papers that dated back to his college days at Notre Dame.
—Lawrence K. Altman, STAT, 7 May 2026
That dispenses with the need to verify a password with any form of multifactor authentication and closes the risk of being fooled by a lookalike phishing site.
—Rob Pegoraro, PC Magazine, 7 May 2026
However, don’t be fooled by the budget price.
—Bestreviews, Mercury News, 1 May 2026
But we should not be fooled by that burst of activity.
—Miriam Rosenbaum, Time, 30 Apr. 2026
Her family had extensive dealings with DCF and reportedly fooled caseworkers by having someone else pretend to be Mimi during a video call to check on her welfare.
—Kaitlin McCallum, Hartford Courant, 30 Apr. 2026
And a scandal that sees Runway fooled by (LOL) a fast fashion brand with sweatshop ties as tarnished the mag’s sterling reputation.
—Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 29 Apr. 2026
Kaitlyn Yarborough, Southern Living, 11 May 2026
Give Plants Enough Space Don’t be fooled by the size of the seedling at planting time.
—Megan Hughes, Better Homes & Gardens, 9 May 2026
Other investigations showed Darsee had fooled co-authors of many papers that dated back to his college days at Notre Dame.
—Lawrence K. Altman, STAT, 7 May 2026
That dispenses with the need to verify a password with any form of multifactor authentication and closes the risk of being fooled by a lookalike phishing site.
—Rob Pegoraro, PC Magazine, 7 May 2026
However, don’t be fooled by the budget price.
—Bestreviews, Mercury News, 1 May 2026
But we should not be fooled by that burst of activity.
—Miriam Rosenbaum, Time, 30 Apr. 2026
Her family had extensive dealings with DCF and reportedly fooled caseworkers by having someone else pretend to be Mimi during a video call to check on her welfare.
—Kaitlin McCallum, Hartford Courant, 30 Apr. 2026
And a scandal that sees Runway fooled by (LOL) a fast fashion brand with sweatshop ties as tarnished the mag’s sterling reputation.
—Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 29 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fooled
Verb
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Montreal opened the scoring when Dubois’ shot hit off of Elizabeth Giguere’s stick and tricked Rooney.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
12 May 2026
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Montreal opened the scoring when Dubois' shot hit off of Elizabeth Giguere's stick and tricked Rooney.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
12 May 2026
Verb
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Culhane joked, playing Tucker Carlson on Weekend Update.—
Ella Gonzales
May 14,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
14 May 2026
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Other comics, like Jeff Ross and Katt Williams, joked about Hart once attending a Diddy party.—
Ethan Shanfeld,
Variety,
13 May 2026
Verb
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But the postcard Hersh received appears to be part of a misinformation campaign targeting Democrats who might be deceived into voting for two candidates, a move that would spoil their ballot.—
Ben Paviour,
Sacbee.com,
19 May 2026
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The return of Prince in the 11th over earned Lukcnow wickets of Devdutt Padikkal, who got deceived by a slower ball, and struggling Jitesh Sharma, who top-edged a pull shot to Pant behind the wickets.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
7 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Fooled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fooled. Accessed 21 May. 2026.
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