hook, line, and sinker

Cultural  

1. To “fall for something hook, line, and sinker” is to be fooled completely. “Tom doubted that his ruse would fool anybody, but the boss fell for it hook, line, and sinker.” The reference is to fishing tackle.

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hook, line, and sinker Idioms  

1. Without reservation, completely, as in He swallowed our excuse hook, line, and sinker. This expression, first recorded in 1865, alludes to a fish swallowing not only the baited hook but the leaden sinker and the entire fishing line between them.

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Example Sentences

These rulings have adopted Scalia’s historical account hook, line, and sinker.

From Slate • Dec. 4, 2025

I am a believer that you should not take the sentiment data hook, line, and sinker because we know that what a consumer says and what they do can sometimes be different things.

From Barron's • Nov. 17, 2025

But Snoop Dogg’s smoke-free hook, line and sinker still doesn’t explain why homemaking savant Martha Stewart has canceled Thanksgiving.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 20, 2023

"Everybody who was making it thought about it a lot, bought hook line and sinker into the idea that it was about embracing the darkness, and made that decision," he said.

From BBC • Oct. 4, 2022

All four guards snapped to attention at my words and took off at a full sprint toward my house, yelling commands into their communicators as they took my story hook, line, and sinker.

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin