hoodwink
verb
Did you know?
We usually use the word wink to refer to a brief shutting of one eye, but hoodwink draws on an older and more obscure meaning of wink covered in our Unabridged Dictionary: “to close one’s eyes.” To hoodwink someone originally was to effectively do that kind of winking for the person; it meant to “cover someone’s eyes,” as with a hood or a blindfold. This 16th-century term soon came to be used figuratively for veiling the truth. “The public ... is as easily hood-winked,” wrote the Irish physician Charles Lucas in 1756, by which time the figurative use had been around for decades—and today, that meaning of the word is far from winking out.
Synonyms
Examples of hoodwink in a Sentence
Max Zahn, ABC News, 11 June 2024
If the upward trend continues, the Biden administration may feel compelled to punish Bolsonaro particularly harshly to convey its displeasure at being hoodwinked on such a large stage.
—Brian Winter, Foreign Affairs, 30 Apr. 2021
Perry even shared a screenshot of a text exchange with her mother, who was also hoodwinked into believing the photo was real.
—New York Daily News, The Mercury News, 8 May 2024
But the season finale truly opened eyes — and its universe — when scrappy dirtbag Eleanor (Kristen Bell) deduced that the avuncular architect guide had hoodwinked them all and that the Good Place was actually...the Bad Place.
—Ew Staff, EW.com, 8 Jan. 2024
See all Example Sentences for hoodwink 
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Cite this Entry
“Hoodwink.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hoodwink. Accessed 7 Jul. 2024.
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hoodwink
verb
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