as in blunt
being or characterized by direct, brief, and potentially rude speech or manner
he's a bluff but good-hearted teacher
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in to fool
to cause to believe what is untrue
I bluffed the interviewer into believing that I could really speak French and thus would be the perfect person to serve in the newspaper's Paris bureau
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to pretend
to present a false appearance of
the basketball player bluffed a shot, then passed instead
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of bluff
Heidi Blake, The New Yorker, 16 Oct. 2023
Though the Explorer majors much more on practicality, somehow Ford has managed to turn a fairly bluff front-end styling and generally boxy silhouette familiar to properly sensible family SUV into an attractive design.
—WIRED, 21 Mar. 2023
Nicole Kliest, Vogue, 24 Apr. 2026
But if the weather gods smile upon you, the Root River State Water Trail provides a gentle to moderate flow past bluffs, pastureland, and small towns.
—Robin Pfeifer, Midwest Living, 23 Apr. 2026
Brendan Ruberry, semafor.com, 29 Mar. 2026
And sometimes bluffing goes beyond saving face.
—Literary Hub, 2 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for bluff
Adjective
One day in 2010, an e-mail from Steve Wentzel, the Zimbabwean tycoon, arrived in the in-box of one of South Pole’s founders—a tall, bluff German man named Christian Dannecker.
—Heidi Blake, The New Yorker, 16 Oct. 2023
Though the Explorer majors much more on practicality, somehow Ford has managed to turn a fairly bluff front-end styling and generally boxy silhouette familiar to properly sensible family SUV into an attractive design.
—WIRED, 21 Mar. 2023
Noun
There’s a heated pool and hot tub (the latter is on an elevated bluff, which offers sunset views), and an outdoor shower lets guests soak in the surrounding nature as much as possible.
—Nicole Kliest, Vogue, 24 Apr. 2026
But if the weather gods smile upon you, the Root River State Water Trail provides a gentle to moderate flow past bluffs, pastureland, and small towns.
—Robin Pfeifer, Midwest Living, 23 Apr. 2026
Verb
That could mean sneaking into hospitals, or bluffing their way into funerals.
—Brendan Ruberry, semafor.com, 29 Mar. 2026
And sometimes bluffing goes beyond saving face.
—Literary Hub, 2 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for bluff
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bluff
Adjective
-
Medical examiner records show Athena died from blunt force trauma, smothering and strangulation.—
Harriet Ramos,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
1 May 2026
-
Emery will argue his fine-margins approach, however blunt Villa presently appear in attack, could have been validated if Ollie Watkins’ close-range shot was not straight at Stefan Ortega or if Lucas Digne had not flapped his arms inside the box to give away a penalty.—
Jacob Tanswell,
New York Times,
1 May 2026
Noun
-
Zion Canyon Scenic Drive, Zion National Park, Utah Zion National Park in southwestern Utah is known for spectacular scenery that includes colorful mountains, peaks, sandstone formations, canyons, waterfalls, cliffs, and wildlife.—
Patricia Doherty,
Travel + Leisure,
3 May 2026
-
Several storms and a brutal Winter ate away at the dunes, which left behind steep cliffs.—
Ryan Hughes,
CBS News,
1 May 2026
Verb
-
After killing Minnesota’s first power play, the Avalanche opened the scoring when defenseman Sam Malinski scored his first career playoff goal, fooling Wallstedt with a rising wrist shot.—
Jess Myers,
Twin Cities,
4 May 2026
-
Don’t let Will Lee’s nickname fool you.—
Mike Kaye
May 4,
Charlotte Observer,
4 May 2026
Verb
-
And its erasure marked the beginning of centuries of political attempts to pretend that slavery never happened.—
Jill Lepore,
New Yorker,
4 May 2026
-
Online adult platforms are being severely restricted these days as new laws banning materials involving adults pretending to be under 18 are put into place.—
Lizzie Lanuza,
StyleCaster,
3 May 2026
Adjective
-
Her time as first lady came to an abrupt and dramatic close in November 2000, when her father fled to Japan amid mounting controversy, resigning the presidency by fax from Tokyo.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
2 May 2026
-
No one wants to be abrupt and just hang up, but there might also be some one-upmanship lurking below the surface.—
Amy Lindgren,
Twin Cities,
2 May 2026
Noun
-
Just as the sun prepared to sink beyond the escarpments, its rays struck every piece of the fractured glass resting on top of the window frames, alighting all of them at once, as if they were shot with electricity.—
New York Times,
New York Times,
16 Mar. 2026
-
As the sun dropped and the temperature fell, Scarabeo Roches Noires emerged on the horizon, a small cluster of white tents perched on a rocky escarpment.—
Fergus Scholes,
TheWeek,
30 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
According to police records, Torres-García died months before DCF was successfully tricked by her mother into doing a video call with a woman who has said she was asked to impersonate the child.—
Laura Tillman,
Hartford Courant,
2 May 2026
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Instead of acting independently, the forces influence one another to amplify the ion’s motion, thereby tricking the system into generating a much stronger, more complex interaction than either force could achieve alone.—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
1 May 2026
Verb
-
Unlike more common software programs and plugins that simulate violin sounds via sampling, averaging the final sound from thousands of notes, the MIT model is based on the fundamental physics of the instrument.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
4 May 2026
-
By analyzing the optical properties of various microplastics in the lab and simulating their effect on a global scale, the new study’s authors estimated that microplastics’ warming abilities outweigh their potential cooling effects—something current climate models don’t account for.—
Jackie Flynn Mogensen,
Scientific American,
4 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Bluff.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bluff. Accessed 7 May. 2026.
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