something intended to deceive; deliberate trickery intended to gain an advantage
Verb:
subject to a playful hoax or joke
造句
用作動詞(v.)
All hoax viruses are essentially chain letters. 所有的欺騙性病毒基本都是連續性的字母。
Some posters on Chinese bulletin boards and blogs have argued that Mr Zhou was perhaps merely a hapless tool in a hoax perpetrated mainly by bureaucrats. 一些中文的貼子和博客提出，周也許不過是官方欺騙鬧劇中的一個不幸的工具而已。
Mainstream critics argue that the entire affair is a hoax. 主流的批評家批評整件事是一場愚弄。
Authorities call the apparent hoax reprehensible, but even with just five feet. 官方稱這是明顯的愚弄行為，應該遭受斥責，但是仍然還有五只斷腳。
用作名詞(n.)
They considered the phone call a hoax. 他們認為那個電話是惡作劇。
I never thought my hoax would go so far and I felt awful when some of you got so excited about knowing the title. 我從來沒有想到我的惡作劇會這么不可收拾，你們為得知新書名而欣喜不已時我真覺得糟糕透了。
常用短語
There was also a hoax involving a tailor\\\'s dummy dressed as a Russian officer.
出自：Sunday Express
There had been a hoax call about a bomb at some large public building.