1
as in parodying
to copy or exaggerate (someone or something) in order to make fun of
spoofed overly competitive parents in a mockumentary about tryouts for a national T-ball team
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
2
as in tricking
to cause to believe what is untrue
the newspaper was spoofed by a supposedly plausible claim of a UFO encounter
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of spoofing
This helps prevent criminals from hijacking phone numbers or spoofing calls and texts.
—
Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 21 Dec. 2025
In response to the ads, a second anti-ICE campaign has begun from left-leaning campaign group MoveOn Civic Action, spoofing the ads aimed at encouraging American patriots to apply for roles.
—Dan Gooding, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Dec. 2025
Twice now, the Mamdani campaign has rolled out television spots aimed at co-opting and spoofing huge entertainment industry franchises — ABC’s The Bachelor and CBS’ Survivor.
—Peter Kiefer, HollywoodReporter, 23 Oct. 2025
One common tactic is account spoofing.
—Marin Independent Journal, Mercury News, 21 Oct. 2025
Alobera says that, with consent from clients, NCC Group used the voice changer alongside other techniques, like caller ID spoofing, to impersonate individuals.
—IEEE Spectrum, 21 Oct. 2025
Weitzman co-wrote and stars in the film, which delights in spoofing tired Hollywood storytelling and franchise fatigue, while toggling between jokes that are exceedingly clever and thrillingly dumb.
—William Earl, Variety, 6 Oct. 2025
Benicio Del Toro made a surprise cameo appearance on Saturday Night Live tonight, joining host Bad Bunny and frequent collaborator Marcello Hernandez in a sketch spoofing the idiosyncrasies of the Spanish language.
—Natalie Oganesyan, Deadline, 4 Oct. 2025
That effort cut caller ID spoofing calls from 1 billion in June 2022 to under 7 million by September 2022.
—Peter Ford, Forbes.com, 15 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for spoofing
Verb
-
After an extended bit featuring host Nikki Glaser parodying Nicole Kidman’s AMC ads, a very loose Snoop Dogg introduced, for some reason, the award for best podcast.—
-
The scene came in a fictional segment parodying Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead in which Maggie defends her architectural talents after her daycare teacher punishes her for making beautiful structures from building blocks.—
Verb
-
Ukraine orchestrated a fake hit on one of Russia's enemies who has fought alongside Ukrainian forces, tricking the Kremlin into paying out a $500,000 bounty Kyiv used to fund its war effort.—
-
To pull off his human heist, Mendez must develop and try to sell a Star Wars-esque sci-fi film, in the hopes of tricking the Iranians into believing the American hostages are part of a Canadian film crew.—
Verb
-
Two hours later, the trainer — now in a foam Michelin-man neck-to-heel suit — crouches near the box, imitating a quiet intruder.—
-
Users appeared to be imitating and showing off to one another.—
Verb
-
Early reports indicate that kids are fooling the age-recognition software with sophisticated techniques such as drawing on facial hair and substituting celebrity photos for their own.—
-
Anyone who thinks that this is an issue that could have been solved by nominating a couple more Spider-Man movies is fooling themselves.—
Verb
-
During Glaser's interview with Stern, the shock jock praised her for mocking CBS News despite the Golden Globes airing on CBS.—
-
Ricky Gervais has hosted the Golden Globes five times, making Hollywood sweat with his take-no-prisoners approach to jokes mocking showbiz.—
Verb
-
Relying Too Much On Garbage Disposals Though the name may be deceiving, garbage disposals aren’t actually designed to dispose of all garbage.—
-
That level of eye-deceiving detail falters in wide shots, however, some of which suffer from unflattering flat lighting that in certain instances recall computer screensavers of yore, given their colorful artificiality.—
Cite this Entry
“Spoofing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/spoofing. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
