as in tricked
to cause to believe what is untrue
Tom Sawyer famously hoodwinked the other boys into thinking there was nothing more enjoyable than whitewashing a fence
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Recent Examples of hoodwinked
Approved by voters hoodwinked by false cost estimates, the project was supposed to be operable by 2020 at a cost of $33 billion.
—
Editorial, Boston Herald, 31 Aug. 2025
Audiences bemused, delighted, hoodwinked theatrically, hoodwinked for real.
—Anne Carson, New Yorker, 21 Aug. 2025
Both lawsuits argue that the news outlets deliberately hoodwinked the public, in violation of state consumer protection laws.
—New York Times, The Mercury News, 9 Feb. 2025
Many individuals and companies don’t report after they’ve been hoodwinked.
—Frank Teruel, Forbes, 2 Oct. 2024
Editorial, Boston Herald, 31 Aug. 2025
Audiences bemused, delighted, hoodwinked theatrically, hoodwinked for real.
—Anne Carson, New Yorker, 21 Aug. 2025
Both lawsuits argue that the news outlets deliberately hoodwinked the public, in violation of state consumer protection laws.
—New York Times, The Mercury News, 9 Feb. 2025
Many individuals and companies don’t report after they’ve been hoodwinked.
—Frank Teruel, Forbes, 2 Oct. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hoodwinked
Verb
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An Arizona inmate tricked court officials into releasing him more than two decades early by filing fake orders allegedly dismissing his charges.—
Suzanne Nuyen,
NPR,
10 Sep. 2025
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Many of the women who spoke Monday addressed that claim directly, saying they were tricked and coerced from the start and that the deceit went far beyond one lie about where the video would be distributed.—
Alex Riggins,
Mercury News,
9 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Soto and her twins say both families were deceived – their family in Chile and their adoptive parents in Italy who didn’t know the girls had been taken away from their biological mother without her consent.—
Rafael Romo,
CNN Money,
16 Sep. 2025
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The band’s attorneys said that consumers could be easily deceived by the products allegedly sold on the marketplace, which could, in turn, cause reputational damage for Twenty One Pilots and its legitimate products.—
Meghan Hall,
Sourcing Journal,
12 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Hurricanes explained by Ginger Zee Don't be fooled by the lack of tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Basin.—
Julia Jacobo,
ABC News,
10 Sep. 2025
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After driving his team to the 1-yard line, Fields fooled the entire Steelers defense on a fourth down, faking a handoff and then high-stepping into the end zone untouched to take a 32-31 lead.—
Mike DeFabo,
New York Times,
8 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Hoodwinked.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hoodwinked. Accessed 20 Sep. 2025.
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