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
-
Heathcliff has tricked Edgar’s sister, Isabella, into marrying him by pretending to love her.—
Becky Little,
Time,
13 Feb. 2026
-
Experts say such scam operations in Cambodia and elsewhere have cheated people around the world out of billions of dollars and tricked people from many countries to work in them under slave-like conditions.—
Sakchai Lalit,
Los Angeles Times,
3 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
Then, an experimenter presented the bonobo with two empty, transparent cups and pretended to pour juice from an empty pitcher into each cup.—
Amarachi Orie,
CNN Money,
9 Feb. 2026
-
Korea’s Kim Seon-yeong and Sweden’s Isabella Wranå pretended their brooms were air guitars.—
Zack Pierce,
New York Times,
4 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
Still, don’t be fooled by the light turnout.—
Alyssa Goldberg,
USA Today,
14 Feb. 2026
-
Don’t be fooled by its budget-friendly price, the fragrance is right on par with Dior’s highly coveted J’Adore perfume.—
Kyra Surgent,
InStyle,
10 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
With 650,000 fans expected to jam the city over the course of the month-long tournament, Burks assumed hundreds of other Kansas City homeowners must surely be doing the same, yes?—
Eric Adler,
Kansas City Star,
21 Feb. 2026
-
But those estimates assumed current policies would remain in place.—
Tristan Bove,
Fortune,
20 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
And don’t be deceived by Saturday’s sunny skies as the high will be 32 with wind chills as low as 9 degrees.—
Amanda McCoy,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
30 Jan. 2026
-
Challengers should give Marylanders the option to choose a new direction and remove the need to confront the painful reality that they were deceived.—
Torrey Snow,
Baltimore Sun,
14 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
The simulation is not the thing simulated.—
Walter Quattrociocchi,
Scientific American,
18 Feb. 2026
-
Relational commitments are simulated without persistence.—
Deb Roy,
The Atlantic,
15 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Bluffed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bluffed. Accessed 22 Feb. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
