Spring Has Sprung: Tricky Terms for April Fool's Day: April 1

You'd be a fool not to learn these words related to pranks, jokes, and deceit.

For more on the history of these words, read The Cunning, Risible Holiday of April Fool's Day.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. antic
    a playful, attention-getting act done for fun and amusement
    We watch her Little Rascal antics increasingly sure that something terrible is going to happen.
    – The New York Times
  2. bamboozle
    conceal one's true motives from
    Along the way GhostSecGroup has bamboozled the press, which is unfortunate, because it’s not clear that GhostSecGroup knows what it’s doing.
    – Slate
  3. bluff
    pretense that your position is stronger than it really is
    Emily swallowed again and stepped back, sure her bluff was about to be called.
    – Book Scavenger
  4. buffoon
    a person who amuses others by ridiculous behavior
    Advertisers can make galleries, whereas you and I still have to post every photo individually like buffoons.
    – The Verge
    In the 1500s, this word evolved from a French word for a jester: buffoons paid the bills by making jokes, juggling balls, and performing other lowbrow feats. Nowadays a buffoon is just a doofus.
  5. cozen
    be dishonest with
    I could forgive him had he not tricked you and deceived you, cozened you and flattered you--into this!
    – Stanley John Weyman
  6. cunning
    marked by skill in deception
    That sort of obfuscation may be a cunning way to sell used cars.
    – Los Angeles Times
    To trick someone on April Fool’s Day, you have to be cunning. This is a word to describe the tricky and sly.
  7. delude
    be dishonest with
    Don’t delude yourself that you will one day get him to “see the light” and come around to your point of view.
    – Time
  8. dupe
    fool or hoax
    “They paid the money. And then they found out it was a scam. They were upset. And they feel duped.”
    – The Guardian
  9. gullible
    naive and easily deceived or tricked
    Lawyers for the brokers said the men didn’t actually help Mr. Hayes and instead were simply telling the gullible trader what he wanted to hear.
    – The Wall Street Journal
  10. hoax
    something intended to deceive
    Police say they knew it was a hoax, but they took Armaan into custody because he confessed to making up the threat.
    – The Washington Times
  11. hoodwink
    influence by slyness
    Somehow, the advertising industry has hoodwinked us into thinking that we have to drop everything today and make purchases or … or what?
    – Slate
  12. hornswoggle
    deprive of by deceit
    Our means are greater than we have been hornswoggled into thinking they are!
    – Salon
  13. idiot
    a person of subnormal intelligence
    In January I deleted all the social media apps from my phone because they were turning me into an idiot.
    – The Guardian
    The always popular term idiot has had a wild history, sliding between slang, medicine, and the law.
  14. jest
    activity characterized by good humor
    The parties involved in the exchange told investigators they were just joking, and those investigators concluded the messages were written in jest.
    – Los Angeles Times
    To jest is to joke, though jest sounds fairly archaic these days. A person who jests is a jester: a rare word for the butt of a jester’s jibes is jestee.
  15. mendacious
    intentionally untrue
    No one should be surprised if Russian forces renew their offensive in the coming days, while Moscow’s mendacious propaganda apparatus blames Ukraine.
    – The Washington Post
  16. prank
    a ludicrous or grotesque act done for fun and amusement
    A few days later, the author of the dead-frog prank saluted her when he opened a desk drawer and found horse manure wrapped in wax paper.
    – The Seattle Times
  17. quip
    a witty saying
    This time Ruth heard me, but she must have thought I’d meant it as some kind of joke, because she laughed half-heartedly, then made some quip of her own.
    – Never Let Me Go
  18. risible
    arousing or provoking laughter
    How do you write a play about the British royal family without making its members seem risible, banal or irrelevant?
    – The New York Times
  19. snooker
    fool or dupe
    The Department of Energy snookered the media last week with a report that seems to show that its clean energy lending programs are profitable.
    – Forbes
  20. swindle
    deprive of by deceit
    Last year, he allegedly swindled some two dozen people by selling them — for cash — phony pilgrimages to see Pope Francis in Philadelphia.
    – U.S. News
Created on Tue Mar 22 19:32:52 EDT 2016 (updated Wed Sep 27 19:53:41 EDT 2023)

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