HOODWINK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does hoodwink mean? 

• HOODWINK (verb)
  The verb HOODWINK has 2 senses:

1. influence by slyness

2. conceal one's true motives from especially by elaborately feigning good intentions so as to gain an end

  Familiarity information: HOODWINK used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HOODWINK (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they hoodwink    ... he / she / it hoodwinks   
Past simple: hoodwinked   
Past participle: hoodwinked   
-ing form: hoodwinking   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Influence by slyness

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

beguile; hoodwink; juggle

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

cheat; chisel; rip off (deprive somebody of something by deceit)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 2

Meaning:

Conceal one's true motives from especially by elaborately feigning good intentions so as to gain an end

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

bamboozle; hoodwink; lead by the nose; play false; pull the wool over someone's eyes; snow

Context example:

He bamboozled his professors into thinking that he knew the subject well

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

betray; deceive; lead astray (cause someone to believe an untruth)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

 Context examples 

I know that if he tells me to come in secret, I must come by wile; by any device to hoodwink—even Jonathan.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)