as in to evade
to elude (an opponent in a sports contest) by making a deceptive or agile movement
deked the lone defenseman with a deft move of his stick and went in for the breakaway
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Recent Examples of deke
Tarasenko found the net on his team's first shot, scored off a third-period faceoff, then later deked around two defenders to set up a goal by Danila Yurov.
—
CBS News, 17 Dec. 2025
Pastrnak deked Hildeby out of his skates and neatly tucked in his 400th career goal behind him, bringing his Black and Gold well-wishers onto the ice.
—Steve Conroy, Boston Herald, 12 Nov. 2025
With the ball in his arms and plenty of green in front of him, the sophomore sped down the KoMets’ sideline, made a move inside the Pioneer 40 to deke a final tackler and dashed across the other goal line.
—Mike Cook, Twin Cities, 7 Nov. 2025
Nichushkin deked to the left of Lyon, but held onto the puck before slipping it to a cutting Makar for a tap-in at 4:32 of the second.
—Corey Masisak, Denver Post, 13 Oct. 2025
The forward deked past the goaltender, backhanded the puck into the net and then slid into the boards.
—Peter Baugh, New York Times, 7 Oct. 2025
The body language of Alvarez there, just deked him.
—Ryan Canfield, FOXNews.com, 19 July 2025
This time, Thompson dropped his left pad to the ice early, because that was the direction the shooter would have to deke to get around him.
—Jesse Granger, The Athletic, 6 Jan. 2025
CBS News, 17 Dec. 2025
Pastrnak deked Hildeby out of his skates and neatly tucked in his 400th career goal behind him, bringing his Black and Gold well-wishers onto the ice.
—Steve Conroy, Boston Herald, 12 Nov. 2025
With the ball in his arms and plenty of green in front of him, the sophomore sped down the KoMets’ sideline, made a move inside the Pioneer 40 to deke a final tackler and dashed across the other goal line.
—Mike Cook, Twin Cities, 7 Nov. 2025
Nichushkin deked to the left of Lyon, but held onto the puck before slipping it to a cutting Makar for a tap-in at 4:32 of the second.
—Corey Masisak, Denver Post, 13 Oct. 2025
The forward deked past the goaltender, backhanded the puck into the net and then slid into the boards.
—Peter Baugh, New York Times, 7 Oct. 2025
The body language of Alvarez there, just deked him.
—Ryan Canfield, FOXNews.com, 19 July 2025
This time, Thompson dropped his left pad to the ice early, because that was the direction the shooter would have to deke to get around him.
—Jesse Granger, The Athletic, 6 Jan. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for deke
Verb
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Meanwhile, Bottega Veneta’s perfume holder makes sure your travel-sized scent never ever rolls around at the bottom of your bag, evading your grip hand again.—
Conçetta Ciarlo,
Vogue,
14 Feb. 2026
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Kids use a variety of methods to evade age rules by giving fraudulent information.—
Nick Penzenstadler,
USA Today,
13 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Not Carolyn artfully dodging the drug allegations!—
Emma Specter,
Vogue,
19 Feb. 2026
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The right dealer won't rush you, hide fees or dodge questions about delivery and buybacks, which can make all the difference between a smart purchase and an expensive lesson.—
Angelica Leicht,
CBS News,
17 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Deke.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/deke. Accessed 20 Feb. 2026.
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