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
The discography deep-dive portion of the set list kicked off with something of a fake out.
—
Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 20 Mar. 2024
Along the way, there’s illegitimate children, fake out deaths, and just about every soap opera cliché imaginable wrapped in gloriously stupid fun.
—Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 23 Jan. 2024
The move pretty much faked out the forecasters and had the National Weather Service scrambling to draft a new cone of uncertainty.
—Andrew Lawrence, Popular Mechanics, 6 June 2023
Jaquez has impressive footwork and control with the ball to fake out defenders, and a majority of his scoring came from the midrange.
—Jordan Mendoza, USA TODAY, 22 June 2023
See all Example Sentences for fake out 
Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 20 Mar. 2024
Along the way, there’s illegitimate children, fake out deaths, and just about every soap opera cliché imaginable wrapped in gloriously stupid fun.
—Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 23 Jan. 2024
The move pretty much faked out the forecasters and had the National Weather Service scrambling to draft a new cone of uncertainty.
—Andrew Lawrence, Popular Mechanics, 6 June 2023
Jaquez has impressive footwork and control with the ball to fake out defenders, and a majority of his scoring came from the midrange.
—Jordan Mendoza, USA TODAY, 22 June 2023
See all Example Sentences for fake out
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fake out
Verb
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Hackers also insert malware-laden files into chat threads, tricking users into downloading DLL files that enable system takeover.—
Kurt Knutsson, CyberGuy Report,
Fox News,
10 Feb. 2025
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In February 2024, a woman who was tricked by a computer support scheme that mimicked Microsoft customer support, transferred around $550,000 to the suspects in two wire transfers.—
Staff report,
Hartford Courant,
8 Feb. 2025
Verb
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Cut to the two men brawling in the bowels of a derelict ship in the Miami port, where Spencer has imprisoned and ultimately attempts to drown his son to evade capture.—
Hunter Ingram,
Variety,
14 Feb. 2025
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After Shark Attack on Bahamas Vacation, the Victims, 1 with 'Shredded' Foot, Speak Out In the actual video, Wells also apologized for his expletive-laden reaction while still attempting to evade the predator.—
Abigail Adams,
People.com,
13 Feb. 2025
Verb
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Don’t be fooled by its cheery name: Happy Face looks haunting.—
Claire Franken,
TVLine,
27 Jan. 2025
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However, phishing is platform-agnostic, relying on fooling you, the user.—
PCMAG,
PCMAG,
24 Jan. 2025
Verb
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In terms of top Netflix original films, that goes to Kinda Pregnant, the tragi-comedy centring on an awkward woman (Schumer) who fakes her own pregnancy to get attention before realising her lie might have landed her in hot water with her new boyfriend Will Forte.—
Kristan Hawkins,
Newsweek,
6 Feb. 2025
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Down 22-21 early in the fourth quarter, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes snapped the ball from the Buffalo Bills’ 10-yard line, faked a handoff and rolled to his right.—
Peter Sblendorio,
New York Daily News,
4 Feb. 2025
Verb
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Minor leaguers and players trying to make the club out of spring can put up gaudy (deceiving) numbers against dubious competition.—
Kevin Acee,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
11 Feb. 2025
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The viewer may feel deceived for a moment, but most people know that trash talk is par for the course among sports fandoms.—
Emily Forlini,
PCMAG,
10 Feb. 2025
Verb
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Or will we just get strung along, like so many shows have done to us in the past?—
Dave Nemetz,
TVLine,
26 Jan. 2025
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To be sure, there are risks that Iran could use negotiations to string along the international community, seek to divide the United States and Europe with counterproposals, and deflect further sanctions.—
Dmitry Adamsky,
Foreign Affairs,
20 Feb. 2011
Verb
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This is done mostly to suck in American capitalists, which deserve to be destroyed.—
Jim Cramer,
CNBC,
4 Feb. 2025
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Excessive demand on the system — usually from residents running hoses and sprinklers while firefighters pull water from hydrants — causes water pressure to drop and contaminants to get sucked in like a vacuum.—
Aria Bendix,
NBC News,
14 Jan. 2025
Thesaurus Entries Near fake out
Cite this Entry
“Fake out.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fake%20out. Accessed 21 Feb. 2025.
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