befooling
Making a fool
Befooling is the act of making a fool of someone—deceiving or tricking them.
The word sounds old-fashioned and slightly literary: He suspected they were befooling him with false promises.
It carries a sense of deliberate deception rather than innocent teasing.
Deliberately misleading another
- hoodwinkingDeliberately misleading someone
- misleadingCausing false beliefs
- deceivingCausing false belief
- bamboozlingDeceiving through confusion
deluding · conning · swindling · tricking · hoaxing · bluffing · dissembling · manipulating
Deliberate act of deception
- ployCalculated deceptive tactic
- gambitRisky opening for advantage
- stratagemDeceptive plan for advantage
- subterfugeDeliberate deception to conceal
scheme · artifice · maneuver · chicanery · shenanigan · dupery · wile · dodge
Stubbornly held false belief
- fantasyImaginative mental wandering
- figmentImagined thing, unreal
- chimeraUnrealistic fantasy or hybrid
- mirageAtmospheric optical deception
hallucination · phantasm · enchantment · conjuring · sleight · prestidigitation · legerdemain · illusion
duping
Deliberately misleading another
- hoodwinkingDeliberately misleading someone
- misleadingCausing false beliefs
- deceivingCausing false belief
bamboozling · deluding · conning · swindling · tricking · hoaxing · bluffing · dissembling · manipulating · feigning
ruse
Deliberate act of deception
- ployCalculated deceptive tactic
- gambitRisky opening for advantage
- stratagemDeceptive plan for advantage
subterfuge · scheme · artifice · maneuver · chicanery · shenanigan · dupery · wile · dodge · feint
delusion
Stubbornly held false belief
- fantasyImaginative mental wandering
- figmentImagined thing, unreal
- chimeraUnrealistic fantasy or hybrid
mirage · hallucination · phantasm · enchantment · conjuring · sleight · prestidigitation · legerdemain · illusion · misdirection
ridicule
Contemptuous mocking treatment
mocking · ribbing · ragging · joshing · kidding · razzing · bantering · jeering · gibing · spoofing
befoolingenlightening
Providing new understanding
informing · telling the truth · being honest · leveling with · undeceiving
befoolingenlightening
Providing new understanding
educating · illuminating · clarifying · opening someone's eyes · disabusing
fool, foolish, fooled, fooling, foolishness, foolhardy, foolery, befool, footling