variants
or footsy
1
: a furtive flirtatious caressing with the feet (as under a table)
2
: a usually surreptitious cooperation or negotiation with someone supposed hostile to one's own interests
—usually used with play
We wish they were … not buying off or playing footsie with the terrorists …—
Meg Greenfield
Meg GreenfieldExamples of footsie in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The result is a frenzied game of footsie that can produce suboptimal deals, or none at all, but ties everyone in knots for a while.
—Liz Hoffman, semafor.com, 24 July 2025
This means that those footsies won’t develop the malodorous aroma that haunts the bottoms of sleeping bags on long overnighters, even when worn for a few days in a row.
—Meg Carney, Field & Stream, 4 Jan. 2024
Instead of rejecting these forces, too many members of today’s Republican Party play footsie with them – or flat-out embrace their rhetoric and ideas.
—Jill Filipovic, CNN, 17 Jan. 2023
When the two single moms brought them together for family dinners, Devi and Des were condemned to playing footsie for the evening and hiding their relationship.
—Sakshi Venkatraman, NBC News, 24 Aug. 2022
See All Example Sentences for footsie
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Liz Hoffman, semafor.com, 24 July 2025
This means that those footsies won’t develop the malodorous aroma that haunts the bottoms of sleeping bags on long overnighters, even when worn for a few days in a row.
—Meg Carney, Field & Stream, 4 Jan. 2024
Instead of rejecting these forces, too many members of today’s Republican Party play footsie with them – or flat-out embrace their rhetoric and ideas.
—Jill Filipovic, CNN, 17 Jan. 2023
When the two single moms brought them together for family dinners, Devi and Des were condemned to playing footsie for the evening and hiding their relationship.
—Sakshi Venkatraman, NBC News, 24 Aug. 2022
See All Example Sentences for footsie
Cite this Entry
“Footsie.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/footsie. Accessed 7 Nov. 2025.
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