Word.ws English Dictionary

decoying

decoying is the present participle and gerund of decoy.

Meaning of decoy

Verb

decoy (third-person singular simple present decoys, present participle decoying, simple past and past participle decoyed)

  1. (transitive) To lead into danger by artifice; to lure into a net or snare; to entrap.
    • to decoy troops into an ambush; to decoy ducks into a net
  2. (intransitive) To act as, or use, a decoy.
    • As they were being decoyed, the rescue team carried the hostage and quietly slipped away.

See all 6 meanings of decoy

Noun

decoying (plural decoyings)

  1. The act of one who decoys.

Forms of decoying

pluraldecoyings

Questions about decoying

What does decoying mean?
Decoying means the act of one who decoys.
What is decoying the present participle and gerund of?
Decoying is the present participle and gerund of decoy.
What part of speech is decoying?
Decoying is a noun.
What is the plural of decoying?
The plural of decoying is decoyings.

Words near decoying in the dictionary

  1. decoy-ducks
  2. decoyable
  3. decoyed
  4. decoyer
  5. decoyers
  6. decoying
  7. decoyings
  8. decoyinine
  9. decoyman
  10. decoymen
  11. decoys

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: decoying (page history and authors); decoy (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “decoying.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/decoying. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.