Way to refer to the "act" of praising a person/inflating their ego with the intention of later causing their downfall?

Question

I am looking for a word/words/phrase that describes putting someone on a high pedestal only to bring him down later. Any word that follows this chain of activity may also do, "act of false praise-act of bringing down (the other person)".

Jack ________ the other person.

Flattery will not work here, as it means to praise to gain something.

Bullshitted will not work either, as the other person might be aware that he is being bullshitted. Also bullshitting may not be in the form of praise or flattery, may be simply in the nature of giving some vague answer.

Deceive will not work either, as deception can also be done without praise.

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Edit 1: Leading someone on generally means to encourage someone's romantic or sexual interest without sincerity. This insincerity in the first phase with the intention of (at future or opportune time) humiliation/destruction/bringing down after putting on a die/pedestal/high place or "puncturing the ego balloon after causing an inflated ego", is what I am looking for in the "word/words/phrase".

It is not plain deception. Also motive for deception is self-benefit. In this word the primary motive is the downfall of the other person.

Basically a word/words/phrase for "entrapment" to cause "later downfall" (of the other person).

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Edit 2: "Fattening up" is coming close to the meaning of what I am searching but in animal form, as in "fattening up the animal for slaughter". Are there similar words (verbs or verbifiable words or loan words) in English or Germanic or Slavic languages or Hebrew language with similar meaning but in the human world?

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Edit 3: If only “jacked and dropped” or “puffed and punctured” were phrases or idioms. Similarly, if these were real words “cliffsided”, “mountaintopped”, “hilltopped” (with the intention of shoving); “head-aired”, “ego-ballooned”, “vacuoused”, “bird-brained”, “fatuoused” (with the intention of humiliating later), they'd be useful too.

Answer 1

I don't think it's necessarily helpful to ask for a single word covering such situations, but in context OP might be understood if he used the "nounified" version of a "verbified" derivative (strawmanning) to mean "the act of creating a straw man".

straw man
An intentionally misrepresented proposition that is set up because it is easier to defeat than an opponent's real argument.

Answer 2

I understand that your context is along the lines of sabotaging (and other words with the meaning "defeating/bringing down someone by indirect means", like undermine) but I don't believe there is a single word that condenses all the actions, praise-deceive-bring down, into a single word.

There are some words that can be considered with a context around them. For example, honeyfuggle (also honeyfackle, honeyfugle, honeyfogle) is a US slang/dialectal word that can cover praising and deceiving; however you need to include bringing down in the context. It also has stronger negative connotations than, say, flatter or cajole; where they are more about persuading or enticing by flattering words. Here is the OED definition of honeyfuggle and a relevant example:

U.S. colloquial. Now somewhat dated.
1.
a. transitive. To deceive, swindle; to cajole.
b. transitive. To obtain by duplicity or blandishment. rare.
2. intransitive. To act in an underhand, indirect, or ingratiating manner in order to deceive a person or to obtain something. Also with around.

The modern practices in politics..of honey-fuggling with rascals instead of hitting them a death blow between the eyes.
_{1887 Courier-Jrnl. (Louisville, Kentucky) 7 May 4}

Knife is another US slang verb with the connotation of defeating someone by underhanded means; used in political context mainly. Here is the OED definition and a relevant example:

U.S. slang. To strike at secretly; to endeavour to defeat in an underhand way.

He speaks favourably of them in a leading article, and ‘knifes’ them slyly in paragraphs.
_{1888 Nation (N.Y.) 5 July 3/1}

Answer 3

The phrasal verb set up works.

Jack set up the other person.

Follow the OED scroll . . .

set, v.¹
Phrasal verbs
PV2. With adverbs in specialized senses.
to set up
III. To put in operation, establish.
29.
c. To bring (someone) to a position from which he may be knocked down, to make vulnerable (literal, as in Pugilism); figurative (colloquial and slang), to lead on in order to fool, cheat, or incriminate (a person); to ‘frame’. Originally U.S.
_{Source: The Oxford English Dictionary (login required)}

Selected samples from the entry . . .

_{1950   J. DEMPSEY Championship Fighting x. 49   If you can land solidly with a straight left or with a left hook, you'll generally knock your opponent off balance, at least, and ‘set him up’ for a pot-shot with your right.}

_{1964   S. BELLOW Herzog 109   Of course he understood that Tennie was setting him up, and that he was a sucker for just the sort of appeal she made.}

_{1981   ‘E. V. CUNNINGHAM’ Case of Sliding Pool ix. 101   He had a partner, whom he set up from the very beginning for the kill.}

As a phrasal verb, it should be split if you use a pronoun: Jack set her up.

You can also use it as a noun: Jack's actions amounted to a set-up.

Answer 4

Jack overinflated the other person
might be interpreted as
Jack overinflated the ego of the other person

Someone whose ego is overinflated is at risk of being brought down by reality and circumstance.

For example:

Resurfacegroup
People with overinflated egos struggle to acknowledge flaws or vulnerabilities- both to themselves and to other people. As a result, they tend to deny problematic behaviors. They feel uncomfortable asking for peer support or connecting with others.

This usage is an extension of the more prosaic idea of overinflation that may apply - for example - to tyres or balloons, both of which are set up to fail by being overinflated.

Merriam Webster
overinflate, transitive verb
to inflate (something) too much
overinflate a car's tires
Other Words from overinflate:
overinflated, adjective
overinflated prices
an overinflated ego

Hence, to overinflate someone’s ego is hardly done accidentally (as might happen with inflating tyres); if done at all, it is done with intent. And what is the likely intent? It is not a benevolent intent: it is to set someone up to be brought down.

Answer 5

‘Sandbagged’ is the most appropriate word that I can find.

Asking an Alexa smart speaker the following:

Alexa, give me more definitions for sandbag

Results in this response:

‘I have 10 more definitions for sandbag: As a noun, 1. such a bag used as a weapon. As a verb, 2. to hit or stun with a sandbag. 3. to set upon violently; attack from or as if from ambush. 4. to coerce or intimidate, as by threats. 5. to thwart or cause to fail or be rejected, especially surreptitiously or without warning. 6. to deceive (one or more opponents) into remaining in the pot by refraining from betting on a strong hand, then raising the bet in a later round. 7. to gain an advantage over (one or more competitors) by concealing one's abilities or other strengths early in a game or other competitive activity. 8. to gain an advantage by concealing or downplaying the strengths of (something). 9. to sandbag one or more opponents. 10. to sandbag an opponent or competitor.’

Source: Amazon Alexa

Answer 6

Some answers here seem to be recommending all sorts of unseemly words. I should use entrap. Jack entrapped the other person with fulsome words. Depending on the context you may not need to specify why that is entrapment. If you ettle to show the “downfall” of this other person, or the effect of Jacks words on him at a later point, then you need not specify why it is entrapment.

Answer 7

Consider con:

From Dictionary.com [Definition 2]:

con

[verb (used with object), conned, con·ning]

• to swindle; trick:
  That crook conned me out of all my savings.

• to persuade by deception, cajolery, etc.:
  Don't worry, I can always con my dad into letting me use his car.

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[noun]

• a confidence game or swindle:
  By the time my uncle realized she was playing a con on him, she had already left town with his rare coin collection.

• a lie, exaggeration, or glib self-serving talk:
  He had a dozen different cons for getting out of paying traffic tickets.

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[adjective]

• relating to or involving abuse of confidence:
  a slick con man; a con trick.

As a note, the part of the con that involves the gaining of confidence from the target is usually referred to as the "setup" or "set up", so in the original example, it could be said "John [set up, was setting up] the other person."

Answer 8

Is there a single word for the "act" of praising a person with the intention of bringing down this person later?

No.

The classic reference here is Mark Anthony's speech in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar Act III, Scene 2 and the repetition of "Brutus is an honourable man" is heavy with irony.

Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest– / (For Brutus is an honourable man; / So are they all, all honourable men) / Come I to speak in Caesar’s funeral. / He was my friend, faithful and just to me: / But Brutus says he was ambitious; / And Brutus is an honourable man.

The "Jack __ the other person." has to be expressed by a descriptive construction that probably will have some reference to "heavy irony".

Answer 9

I am sorry to say that the simple answer to the question is "No: there is no such word.". Many of the answers given get as near to a single-word answer, in some case resorting to more than one word, in other cases using a single word that is about as near as a single word can possibly get.

The ancient Greeks shared a saying that the Gods raise up those that they intend to cast down. The essence of tragegy was the cycle of success ('koros'), giving rise to overconfidence/arrogance ('hybris'), leading to a disastrous mistake ('nemesis'). But there is no single word that does the job being looked for here. There are words for elements of the process of tricking someone into disaster: 'lure', for example or 'inveigle', but neither of these contain the notion of flattery and disaster, or not specifically.

So I am afraid that while it is possible to construct a phrase that could do the job, I do not think there is a single word.

Answer 10

In a word, failure.

Also "horror business."