HOAX

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does hoax mean? 

• HOAX (noun)
  The noun HOAX has 1 sense:

1. something intended to deceive; deliberate trickery intended to gain an advantage

  Familiarity information: HOAX used as a noun is very rare.

• HOAX (verb)
  The verb HOAX has 1 sense:

1. subject to a playful hoax or joke

  Familiarity information: HOAX used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HOAX (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Something intended to deceive; deliberate trickery intended to gain an advantage

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

dupery; fraud; fraudulence; hoax; humbug; put-on

Hypernyms ("hoax" is a kind of...):

chicane; chicanery; guile; shenanigan; trickery; wile (the use of tricks to deceive someone (usually to extract money from them))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "hoax"):

goldbrick (anything that is supposed to be valuable but turns out to be worthless)

Derivation:

hoax (subject to a playful hoax or joke)

• HOAX (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they hoax    ... he / she / it hoaxes   
Past simple: hoaxed   
Past participle: hoaxed   
-ing form: hoaxing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Subject to a playful hoax or joke

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

hoax; play a joke on; pull someone's leg

Hypernyms (to "hoax" is one way to...):

cozen; deceive; delude; lead on (be false to; be dishonest with)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

hoax (something intended to deceive; deliberate trickery intended to gain an advantage)

hoaxer (someone who plays practical jokes on others)

 Context examples 

I stood for a few minutes with my heart in my boots, wondering whether the whole thing was an elaborate hoax or not, when up came a man and addressed me.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its object might be I could not imagine.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Indeed, if I may make a full confession to you, I was quite convinced that the letter from Meiringen was a hoax, and I allowed you to depart on that errand under the persuasion that some development of this sort would follow.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)