1
as in tricked
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
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in pretended
to present a false appearance of
the basketball player bluffed a shot, then passed instead
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of bluffed
Any time the Patriots succeed with a new blitz or bluffed blitz in the first quarter, offenses expect to see it again later in the game.
—
Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald, 17 Jan. 2026
On the second interception, Simmons said Delaware bluffed as if an all-out blitz was coming before falling back into coverage and making the pick.
—Walter Villa, Miami Herald, 21 Sep. 2025
Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald, 17 Jan. 2026
On the second interception, Simmons said Delaware bluffed as if an all-out blitz was coming before falling back into coverage and making the pick.
—Walter Villa, Miami Herald, 21 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bluffed
Verb
-
Montreal opened the scoring when Dubois’ shot hit off of Elizabeth Giguere’s stick and tricked Rooney.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
12 May 2026
-
Montreal opened the scoring when Dubois' shot hit off of Elizabeth Giguere's stick and tricked Rooney.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
12 May 2026
Verb
-
Faced with one of Musk’s seemingly impossible mandates, those strong employees rarely pretended to already know the solution.—
Preston Fore,
Fortune,
23 May 2026
-
His wife fell to the floor and pretended to be dead, and Little was pronounced dead at a hospital.—
Katie Langford,
Denver Post,
19 May 2026
Verb
-
He has been fooled into selling them out for less than a pack of gum.—
Scott Tobias,
Vulture,
24 May 2026
-
He should not be fooled by the sudden enthusiasm around the arrival of the young players who have emerged recently.—
Bill Madden,
New York Daily News,
23 May 2026
Verb
-
Top prospect Gage Jump was called up and assumed a spot in the rotation after starting later Tuesday.—
Sean Campbell,
Sacbee.com,
30 May 2026
-
Wang was elected to the City Council in November 2022 and eventually assumed the job of mayor, a position that rotates among the council members.—
Rebecca Ellis,
Los Angeles Times,
29 May 2026
Verb
-
When both technology and human judgment can be deceived at the point of execution, defense must shift upstream into design, process and governance.—
Steve Piper,
Forbes.com,
26 May 2026
-
The indictment alleges that the group, which is best known for its work to oppose the Ku Klux Klan, lied to donors about paying confidential informants to infiltrate hate groups and deceived banks about the bank accounts used to make those payments.—
Sarah N. Lynch,
CBS News,
26 May 2026
Verb
-
Guided by this concept, the team simulated more than 1,500 robot configurations to identify a design close to their theoretical performance limit.—
Jijo Malayil,
Interesting Engineering,
27 May 2026
-
However, in the various productivity tasks simulated in the Geekbench test, the iPad Pro pulled far and away from the Surface Pro, seen below.—
Matthew Buzzi,
PC Magazine,
23 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Bluffed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bluffed. Accessed 31 May. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
