Synonyms of bluffs

bluffs 1 of 2

noun

plural of bluff

as in cliffs

a steep wall of rock, earth, or ice

fossils embedded in a stone bluff that date from the Jurassic period

Synonyms & Similar Words

• cliffs
• escarpments
• palisades
• crags
• scars
• precipices
• scarps
• embankments
• buttes
• barrancas
• tors
• hogbacks
• cuestas
• declivities
• pitches
• bulwarks
• drop-offs

bluffs

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of bluff

1

as in fools

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

• fools
• tricks
• deceives
• gulls
• kids
• snows
• suckers
• teases
• dupes
• hoodwinks
• misleads
• hoaxes
• humbugs
• buffaloes
• deludes
• juggles
• misguides
• bamboozles
• gaffs
• cons
• strings along
• cozens
• misinforms
• has on
• sucks in
• cheats
• spoofs
• snookers
• gammons
• beguiles
• stings
• fakes out
• burns
• hornswoggles
• catches
• does a number on
• takes in
• has
• leads one down the garden path
• pulls one's leg
• pulls the wool over one's eyes
• swindles
• sticks
• rooks
• hustles
• fleeces
• defrauds
• mulcts
• flimflams
• puts on
• shortchanges
• chisels
• bleeds
• skins
• euchres
• diddles
• squeezes

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• exposes
• reveals
• unmasks
• uncovers
• shows up
• undeceives
• debunks
• tells
• discloses
• divulges
• uncloaks
• unveils
• disabuses
• disillusions
• disenchants

2

as in pretends

to present a false appearance of

the basketball player bluffed a shot, then passed instead

Synonyms & Similar Words

• pretends
• simulates
• assumes
• passes (for)
• acts
• affects
• feigns
• shams
• fakes
• dissembles
• poses
• counterfeits
• professes
• plays
• makes believe
• puts on
• conceals
• forges
• masquerades
• imitates
• masks
• camouflages
• disguises
• impersonates
• lets on
• dissimulates
• feints
• playacts
• malingers

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of bluffs

Noun

One afternoon, in Jasper, Gordon Watkins, who runs the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance, pointed to the limestone bluffs along the Buffalo National River. —Jessica Mathews, Fortune, 3 Apr. 2026

During the Civil War, 200 Confederate soldiers called the bluffs above the Apalachicola River home for two years. —Carrie Honaker, Travel + Leisure, 3 Apr. 2026

Although a long shot, some fans believe that Stevens' comments about not returning to college basketball are just bluffs. —Tyler Erzberger, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Mar. 2026

By night, enjoy the wavy shoreline and ochre limestone bluffs from your campsite. —Madison Chapman, Outside, 25 Mar. 2026

Another fence is causing trouble in Del Mar, where residents went to court a few years ago to stop the installation of a safety fence along the railroad tracks on the seaside bluffs. —Phil Diehl, San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 Mar. 2026

Trump’s version of events, as is so often the case, isn’t based on facts, but wishcasting, projection, bombast and bluffs. —S.e. Cupp, New York Daily News, 11 Mar. 2026

High on the bluffs overlooking the Upper Mississippi River, Effigy Mounds National Monument preserves more than 200 ancient earthen mounds shaped like bears, birds, and spirits of the natural world. —Susan Stapleton, Des Moines Register, 9 Mar. 2026

Winter storms stripped away sand and dirt from the bluffs in Kings Park. —John Dias, CBS News, 7 Mar. 2026

Verb

Mulugheta, who employed a similar strategy with client Jalen Ramsey that successfully forced a trade during the 2019 regular season, does not come off as a man who cavalierly bluffs. —Michael Silver, New York Times, 29 Aug. 2025