foisted; foisting; foists

transitive verb

1
a
: to introduce or insert surreptitiously or without warrant
b
: to force another to accept especially by stealth or deceit
when the states … foist unnecessary expenses on local taxpayersT. C. Desmond
2
: to pass off as genuine or worthy
foist costly and valueless products on the publicJonathan Spivak
… inferior caviar has been foisted on an unknowing public …David Rosengarten

Did you know?

An early sense of the word foist, now obsolete, referred to palming a phony die and secretly introducing it into a game at an opportune time. The action involved in this cheating tactic reflects the etymology of foist. The word is believed to derive from the obsolete Dutch verb vuisten, meaning "to take into one's hand." Vuisten in turn comes from vuyst, the Middle Dutch word for "fist," which itself is distantly related to the Old English ancestor of fist. By the late 16th century, foist was being used in English to mean "to insert surreptitiously," and it quickly acquired the meaning "to force another to accept by stealth or deceit."

Examples of foist in a Sentence

shopkeepers who foist shoddy souvenirs on unsuspecting tourists
Recent Examples on the Web The desire among politicians and their regulatory enablers to foist ever=higher reserve requirements on banks is relentless, and for being relentless, dangerous. John Tamny, Forbes, 11 Feb. 2024 Miami did well to foist the fumes of his ebbing career on somebody else and enjoy a huge, immediate upgrade in return. Greg Cote, Miami Herald, 23 Jan. 2024 The raid brought international attention to the newspaper and the small town of 1,900 — foisted to the center of a debate over press freedoms. John Hanna and Heather Hollingsworth, Anchorage Daily News, 19 Aug. 2023 Tips have long provided a convenient way to foist payment obligations onto others. Zach Helfand, The New Yorker, 25 Dec. 2023 But the thing that terrifies me even more than the inevitable price hikes foisted on us by Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav and fellow media execs, is the simple consolidation of entertainment companies — and thus the decrease in the number of people deciding what gets greenlit and made. Alex Cranz, The Verge, 22 Dec. 2023 But all the while, former service managers and technicians told Reuters, Tesla pressured employees to foist repair costs onto drivers in order to save money. Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 20 Dec. 2023 If nations had to reconcile their spending by ultimately having to settle up in bitcoin, the temptation to play hot potato with their sovereign debt in the hope of foisting their vote buying largess onto some bigger fool somewhere other than here would be severely constricted. Desmond Lachman, National Review, 6 Dec. 2023 Research on eldest daughters specifically is limited, but experts told me that considering the pressures foisted on older siblings and on girls and women, occupying both roles isn’t likely to be easy. Sarah Sloat, The Atlantic, 14 Nov. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'foist.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

probably from obsolete Dutch vuisten to take into one's hand, from Middle Dutch vuysten, from vuyst fist; akin to Old English fȳst fist

First Known Use

circa 1587, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of foist was circa 1587

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Dictionary Entries Near foist

Cite this Entry

“Foist.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/foist. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

foist

verb
: to pass off (something false) as genuine

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