fool

verb

Synonyms and Antonyms of FOOL

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 bamboozle, beguile, bluff, buffalo, burn, catch, con, cozen, delude, dupe, fake out, fool, gaff, gammon, gull, have, have on [chiefly British], hoax, hoodwink, hornswoggle, humbug, juggle, misguide, misinform, mislead, snooker, snow, spoof, string along, sucker, suck in, take in, trick

Related Words kid, put on, tease; bleed, cheat, chisel, defraud, diddle, euchre, flam, fleece, gyp, hustle, mulct, rook, shortchange, skin, squeeze, stick, sting, swindle

Near Antonyms debunk, expose, reveal, show up, uncloak, uncover, unmask; disclose, divulge, tell, unveil; disabuse, disenchant, disillusion

Antonyms undeceive

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

Synonyms banter, chaff, fool, fun, gag, jape, jest, jive, jolly, josh, kid, quip, wisecrack, yuk (or yuck) [slang]

Related Words gibe (or jibe), haze, jeer, mock, rag, rally, razz, rib, ridicule, tease; caricature, lampoon, parody, satirize; amuse, divert, entertain

What made you want to look up fool[-3,verb]? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).

Put-downs with flair

How to use a word that (literally) drives some people nuts.

Test your vocab with our fun, fast game

Ailurophobia, and 9 other unusual fears