hoax
noun/həʊks/
/həʊks/
- an act intended to make somebody believe something that is not true, especially something unpleasant
- He was accused of using a bomb hoax to empty a rival restaurant.
- Detectives are still investigating the hoax calls.
- The emergency call turned out to be a hoax.
Extra Examples- He had been the victim of a computer virus hoax.
- The organizers staged a hoax on some of the competitors.
- a hoax perpetrated by the British government
- The so-called ‘Iron Age’ remains turned out to be an elaborate hoax.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- elaborate
- cruel
- bomb
- …
- perpetrate
- fall for
- expose
- …
- letter
- call
- …
Word Originlate 18th cent. (as a verb): probably a contraction of hocus.
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hoax