I. ˈd(y)üp noun
( -s )
Etymology: French, from Middle French duppe, probably from a dialect word meaning “hoopoe”, alteration (resulting from false word division of de huppe ) of huppe hoopoe — more at hoopoe
1. : one that is easily deceived (as by flattering promises) because lacking power to discriminate : fool
2. : a puppet or tool especially of a powerful person or idea : slave
he that hates truth shall be the dupe of lies — William Cowper
with the same mental rigidity that made him a dupe to communism — Bradford Smith
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: French duper, from dupe
: to make a dupe of : mislead or trick by imposing on one's credulity : deceive , fool
refuses to be duped by his foiled lover's frenzies — Karl Polanyi
Synonyms:
dupe , gull , befool , trick , hoax , hoodwink , and bamboozle mean, in common, to delude by underhanded or deceptive means especially for one's own ends. dupe stresses the unwariness of the one deluded and his unsuspecting acceptance of the false as true, the worthless as genuine, and so on
men in high positions are as gullible and as easily duped as the rest of us — New Statesman & Nation
hunters bent on duping a wild turkey gobbler — Allen Rankin
gull implies the great credulousness of the one imposed upon and generally made a laughingstock of
“good people” they call them, because they are easily gulled in the matter of weights and measures — Norman Douglas
Barnum knew the American public loved to be gulled. It was a shame not to take the money. His genius consisted in knowing how to swindle them — W.L.Phelps
could not tell … whether he was enlightened by fact or gulled by pretense — F.L.Paxson
befool usually stresses no weakness in the victim nor does it suggest very strongly an intent to delude on the part of the agent, stressing rather the victim's being made foolish
innocent philosophic critics, too easily befooled by words — Havelock Ellis
a world long befooled by false messiahs and enslaved by false loyalties — John Bright †1889
pictures supplant one another so swiftly as to befool the eye with the illusion of continuity — S.H.Adams
trick stresses an intent to delude or deceive, by strategem, ruse, wiles, or fraud, not necessarily implying a base end, suggesting strongly the use of craft or cunning
it enables some lawyers to trick us into bringing in the wrong verdict — W.J.Reilly
his accidental abandonment, which Sam never forgot, but which his recollection tricked him into placing at the earlier date of 1839, as if to heighten the pathos — Dixon Wecter
never recommended it to my students because I knew they would suspect me of trying to trick them into reading it — A.W.Long
hoax in one sense implies the use of trickery for fun or as a demonstration of someone else's gullibility; in another it suggests a fraud, often on a large scale, intended to deceive even the most skeptical, usually to one's own advantage
he was flawed with impish faults. He hoaxed poor Rafinesque into solemn belief in the “red-headed swallow”, concocted for his benefit, and even got him to accept drawings of imaginary fishes and publish them as new species — D.C.Peattie
a get-rich-quick scheme intended to hoax the public
hoodwink often stresses a deliberate confusing of another so as to blind him to the truth, and often a self-delusion arising from an inability to distinguish false from true
injures the interests of whatever nation is hoodwinked by the lie — Lucius Garvin
since she'd hoodwinked your uncle, she thought she could pull the wool over my eyes, too — Kenneth Roberts
hoodwinked by a simple political trick
bamboozle usually implies the use of out-and-out humbug or illusion or a transparent cajolery, though it may often be interchanged with trick , hoax , or hoodwink , being generally less fixed in its implications
we circus people are scoundrels, we do all sorts of tricks to bamboozle the world — Eduard Bass
is it not a technique for persuading people that they themselves have chosen what has been dexterously palmed off on them? And that is to add insult to injury; you not only manipulate people but also bamboozle them — Walter Moberly
III. noun or verb
Etymology: by shortening
: duplicate