Cozening: meaning, definitions and examples

deceiving someone

To cozen means to deceive or trick someone, often in a cunning or crafty way. This term is often used to describe situations where someone is misled into believing something untrue for the deceiver's benefit. The act of cozening can involve manipulation, guile, and cleverness, and it typically relates to fraud or dishonest behavior. Cozening is less common in modern language but still evokes a sense of the trickery associated with older forms of deception.

cheat, deceive, defraud, dupe, mislead

Examples of usage

• He cozened her into giving him money.

• She was cozened by the promise of easy profits.

• They ended up cozening the naive investor.

• The con artist cozened the tourists out of their belongings.