hoax

[ hohks ]
See synonyms for hoax on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. something intended to deceive or defraud: The Piltdown man was a scientific hoax.

verb (used with object)
  1. to deceive by a hoax; hoodwink.

Origin of hoax

1
First recorded in 1790–1800; perhaps contraction of hocus

Other words for hoax

Other words from hoax

  • hoaxer, noun
  • un·hoaxed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use hoax in a sentence

  • He may be hoaxing us like Hepsy didbetter call to him and tell him we havent a jewel or a cent with us, cried Ruth.

    Girl Scouts at Dandelion Camp | Lillian Elizabeth Roy
  • It is only fair to state that the doctor in the following tale was hoaxing the "dragoon."

  • It is on an iconoclastic eagerness of one kind or another that nearly all hoaxing and practical joking is based.

  • Bixiou had the patience to work up the little masterpiece for the sole purpose of hoaxing his superior.

    Bureaucracy | Honore de Balzac
  • "I'm really afraid," says Dicky, "that somebody has been hoaxing you this time, Mrs. Blake;" genially.

    April's Lady | Margaret Wolfe Hungerford

British Dictionary definitions for hoax

hoax

/ (həʊks) /


noun
  1. a deception, esp a practical joke

verb
  1. (tr) to deceive or play a joke on (someone)

Origin of hoax

1
C18: probably from hocus

Derived forms of hoax

  • hoaxer, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012