Outfoxed

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To cleverly outsmart or defeat someone through trickery or cleverness
2. To gain an advantage over another by using skillful or crafty tactics
3. To overcome or outwit someone by being more shrewd or sly

Etymology: "Outfoxed" is the past form of "outfox," a verb built from "out" and "fox." The verb works the way "outrun" or "outwit" do: "out" carries the sense of surpassing or getting the better of someone, while "fox" supplies the image of the animal famed for cunning. To outfox someone is to beat them at their own game through cleverness rather than force. The root word goes back a long way. "Fox" descends from a Proto-Germanic form that, like its Old English descendant, was used for the animal, and the word has been part of English since Old English times. Its association with sly behavior is what gives the verb its flavor, since English speakers have long treated the fox as the emblem of craftiness. "Out" follows a parallel route. It comes from Old English "ūt," which meant outward or away, and it developed into the prefix that forms verbs expressing superiority over another, such as "outdo" and "outlast." Joining it to "fox" produced a verb that turns an animal's reputation into a description of human strategy.

Synonyms: outsmarted, outwitted