verb
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to dupe; trick
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obsolete to cover or hide
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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hoodwinksimple
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hoodwinkssimple
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have hoodwinkedperfect
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has hoodwinkedperfect
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am hoodwinkingprogressive
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are hoodwinkingprogressive
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is hoodwinkingprogressive
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have been hoodwinkingperfect progressive
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has been hoodwinkingperfect progressive
Past
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hoodwinkedsimple
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had hoodwinkedperfect
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was hoodwinkingprogressive
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were hoodwinkingprogressive
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had been hoodwinkingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of hoodwink
Explanation
To hoodwink someone means to trick or mislead them. Beware of fake ATMs that try to hoodwink you into giving over your bank card and your code, only to keep them both and steal all your money. An excellent, old-fashioned word is hoodwink, and you’ll be happy you know it when you have to read Victorian novels in which characters are repeatedly hoodwinked. It is an Old English compound which meant "to blindfold" 600 years ago but quickly began to be used figuratively. Think about the expression, to pull the wool over someone's eyes, as having the same image and meaning. Has your big sister ever hoodwinked you into doing her chores for her?
Vocabulary lists containing hoodwink
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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The Tragedy of Macbeth
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Jones was livid—two weeks could allow the miscreants to hoodwink more applicants.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
Mr Hogg said Dunlop had the "ability to lie and hoodwink the system", adding: "It's beyond belief."
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2025
Opponents point to the ability of shorts to hoodwink investors by spreading false rumors before exiting a trade, a technique known as “short and distort.”
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 23, 2023
The prosecution has said Wirecard's management invented vast sums of phantom revenue to hoodwink investors and creditors.
From Reuters ● Dec. 6, 2022
Country people we may be, but by golly yokels that you can hoodwink we are jolly well not!'”
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
Alex is so attuned to the “textures and habits” of the elite, so sure she can pull one over on them that she of course hoodwinks herself.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 11, 2023
Jackman plays Harold Hill, the con man who hoodwinks the good citizens of River City, Iowa, into believing that he can transform their untrained youngsters into a professional-grade marching band.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 2, 2022
He's charismatic and persuasive, and he somehow hoodwinks a class just as impressionable as he.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 3, 2012
Or perhaps Facebook is betting we're too lazy and ignorant to read the fine print, just like wireless carriers who try to dazzle us with their sleight-of-plan hoodwinks.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 6, 2012
A false message carried by an American courier hoodwinks the British.
From "George Washington, Spymaster" by Thomas B. Allen
Anyone eligible will be contacted automatically but, if you receive a letter, there are various checks you can do to ensure the letter is genuine so you don't get hoodwinked.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026
As it turns out, I’m hardly the only person to have felt hoodwinked, bamboozled, and/or flat-out deceived by my smartphone’s forecasts in 2026.
From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026
The suit claims Banks was prepared for a fair comeuppance, but ultimately the former supermodel felt hoodwinked.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026
At least those hoodwinked folks weren’t tricked into leaving their houses for nothing.
From Salon ● Jan. 21, 2026
The prison service distrusted all organizations that could affect world opinion, and regarded them not as legitimate investigators to be dealt with honestly but as med-dling interlopers to be hoodwinked if possible.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
She said Joshua's "hoodwinking of innocent people" must "come into the light".
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2025
Their story was that the CHP insisted on the nighttime move for the public’s safety, but on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, and in Times letters to the editor, the muttering was about hoodwinking and betrayal.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2023
At one point he sent for me, and I found him on his cellphone with someone on the crew, proposing a plot that, I soon gathered, involved hoodwinking Gilligan.
From New York Times ● Feb. 9, 2022
They did not realize or understand that he is a con man who thrives on hoodwinking and exploiting others.
From Salon ● Jan. 14, 2021
But Seabiscuit could not be coaxed into showing any speed at all, and to find out if the horse was hoodwinking him, Fitzsimmons opted to make an exception to his nowhip rule.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
