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
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in pretended
to present a false appearance of
the basketball player bluffed a shot, then passed instead
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Recent Examples of bluffed
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
Walter Villa, Miami Herald, 21 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bluffed
Verb
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Accountancy has seen several cheating scandals in recent years, with the Big Four firms hit with multimillion-dollar fines after staff tricked internal exams, but the sector is far from alone.—
Tom Chivers,
semafor.com,
29 Dec. 2025
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The initial scheme involved a nonprofit organization that tricked state and federal officials into paying them to serve food to thousands of hungry children but never provided the meals.—
Jonah Kaplan,
CBS News,
18 Dec. 2025
Verb
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Humanoid robots shadowboxed, danced and pretended to run small shops.—
Kif Leswing,
CNBC,
9 Jan. 2026
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Other times the chasers have pretended to be the COVID-19 virus.—
Rebekah Willett,
Fortune,
9 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Don't be fooled by an ocean that looks calm.—
CA Weather Bot,
Sacbee.com,
7 Jan. 2026
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Don't be fooled by the name, there's nothing murky about this southern-style soup.—
Lizzy Briskin,
Better Homes & Gardens,
4 Jan. 2026
Verb
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In the 12 and a half years since Sir Alex Ferguson retired and the two since Sir Jim Ratcliffe assumed control of the club’s football operations, United have evidently not become a better football club.—
James Horncastle,
New York Times,
10 Jan. 2026
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That same year, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was created and assumed control of the program.—
Matthew S Williams,
Interesting Engineering,
10 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Your husband claims not to have known the weekend arrangements in advance, claiming you were both deceived — not only by his old friends, but by their wives, and by the single female neighbor.—
Judith Martin,
Mercury News,
8 Jan. 2026
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The agency’s lawsuit asserts Instacart deceived consumers with false advertising, failure to provide refunds and unlawful subscription enrollment processes.—
Michelle Del Rey,
USA Today,
19 Dec. 2025
Verb
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The island has been under growing pressure from Beijing, which encircled it last week in a large-scale military exercise that simulated a blockade.—
Janis Mackey Frayer,
NBC news,
5 Jan. 2026
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And in a bit of parade magic, the creatives at AES also crafted the float with a pair of transporter pods made from golden red millet and blue statice that simulated sci-fi tech using a set of twins dressed in red Starfleet uniforms.—
Jeff Spry,
Space.com,
2 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Bluffed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bluffed. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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