as in to evade
to elude (an opponent in a sports contest) by making a deceptive or agile movement
deked the lone defenseman with a deft move of his stick and went in for the breakaway
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Recent Examples of deke
Tarasenko found the net on his team's first shot, scored off a third-period faceoff, then later deked around two defenders to set up a goal by Danila Yurov.
—
CBS News, 17 Dec. 2025
Pastrnak deked Hildeby out of his skates and neatly tucked in his 400th career goal behind him, bringing his Black and Gold well-wishers onto the ice.
—Steve Conroy, Boston Herald, 12 Nov. 2025
With the ball in his arms and plenty of green in front of him, the sophomore sped down the KoMets’ sideline, made a move inside the Pioneer 40 to deke a final tackler and dashed across the other goal line.
—Mike Cook, Twin Cities, 7 Nov. 2025
Nichushkin deked to the left of Lyon, but held onto the puck before slipping it to a cutting Makar for a tap-in at 4:32 of the second.
—Corey Masisak, Denver Post, 13 Oct. 2025
The forward deked past the goaltender, backhanded the puck into the net and then slid into the boards.
—Peter Baugh, New York Times, 7 Oct. 2025
The body language of Alvarez there, just deked him.
—Ryan Canfield, FOXNews.com, 19 July 2025
This time, Thompson dropped his left pad to the ice early, because that was the direction the shooter would have to deke to get around him.
—Jesse Granger, The Athletic, 6 Jan. 2025
CBS News, 17 Dec. 2025
Pastrnak deked Hildeby out of his skates and neatly tucked in his 400th career goal behind him, bringing his Black and Gold well-wishers onto the ice.
—Steve Conroy, Boston Herald, 12 Nov. 2025
With the ball in his arms and plenty of green in front of him, the sophomore sped down the KoMets’ sideline, made a move inside the Pioneer 40 to deke a final tackler and dashed across the other goal line.
—Mike Cook, Twin Cities, 7 Nov. 2025
Nichushkin deked to the left of Lyon, but held onto the puck before slipping it to a cutting Makar for a tap-in at 4:32 of the second.
—Corey Masisak, Denver Post, 13 Oct. 2025
The forward deked past the goaltender, backhanded the puck into the net and then slid into the boards.
—Peter Baugh, New York Times, 7 Oct. 2025
The body language of Alvarez there, just deked him.
—Ryan Canfield, FOXNews.com, 19 July 2025
This time, Thompson dropped his left pad to the ice early, because that was the direction the shooter would have to deke to get around him.
—Jesse Granger, The Athletic, 6 Jan. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for deke
Verb
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Davis faces three counts of first-degree assault and a single count each of second-degree manslaughter, evading responsibility involving a death, reckless driving and failure to drive in the proper lane.—
Justin Muszynski,
Hartford Courant,
7 Jan. 2026
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Ashton Hill, 17, was charged with discharge of a firearm in certain municipalities, evading arrest, riot participation, possession of marijuana under two ounces in a drug-free zone and possession of CS PG2 under one gram.—
Sergio Candido,
CBS News,
7 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Hyde Park Avenue was like the Wild Wild West, with motorists dodging huge snow banks, pedestrians, school children and MBTA bus riders who were forced off the sidewalks.—
Joe Battenfeld,
Boston Herald,
29 Jan. 2026
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He's spent the last three seasons flirting and dodging anything serious, but season 4 finally gives him his own love story.—
Allison DeGrushe,
Entertainment Weekly,
29 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Deke.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/deke. Accessed 31 Jan. 2026.
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