What does "catfishing" mean?

The practice of creating a fake profile on a social media platform in order to deceive people.

What is a synonym for "catfishing"?

Common synonyms include: catfisher, catlet, fish, mudcat, river chicken, sheat.

noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
The practice of creating a fake profile on a social media platform in order to deceive people. Internet, uncountable, usually
"For the most part, catfishing is not against the law, said Bradley Shear, a Washington-based lawyer who has examined legal issues related to social media."

Verb

1
present participle and gerund of catfish (“to fish for catfish”) form-of, gerund, participle, present
2
present participle and gerund of catfish (“to create and operate a fake online profile”) form-of, gerund, participle, present

"The scientists were shocked to discover the AI they had developed was capable of successfully catfishing people."

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.