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
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Recent Examples of deke
Sometimes that’s why creative elects to deke viewers only to spring a swerve during an unexpected time.
—
Brian Mazique, Forbes.com, 7 June 2025
The insurance goal finally came with 7:50 left to play when Sam Bennett won a race for a loose puck, dangled the puck on his stick, deked Woll in front of the net and fired a shot into the net.
—Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 12 May 2025
After defenseman Aaron Ekblad forced a turnover, Bennett won a race for a loose puck, deked Woll and sunk his shot with 7:50 left in the third period.
—Adam Lichtenstein, Sun Sentinel, 11 May 2025
Dreyer deked Seattle defender Jonathan Bell, cutting back on the run and then dumping the ball off to a streaking Godoy.
—Kyle Kensing, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 Apr. 2025
Less than a week after setting up Connor McDavid to win the 4 Nations Face-Off, Marner returned to Boston and deked his way past Jeremy Swayman for the overtime winner.
—Kevin Papetti, The Athletic, 26 Feb. 2025
Matthews failed to score on a breakaway in the early third but deked out Wolf enough to set up Knies for a tap-in and complete the assist hat trick.
—Kevin Papetti, The Athletic, 5 Feb. 2025
Stars forward Tyler Seguin walked in all alone and Thompson dropped his left pad early, anticipating Seguin would deke to the far side of the net.
—Jesse Granger, The Athletic, 6 Jan. 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
Brian Mazique, Forbes.com, 7 June 2025
The insurance goal finally came with 7:50 left to play when Sam Bennett won a race for a loose puck, dangled the puck on his stick, deked Woll in front of the net and fired a shot into the net.
—Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 12 May 2025
After defenseman Aaron Ekblad forced a turnover, Bennett won a race for a loose puck, deked Woll and sunk his shot with 7:50 left in the third period.
—Adam Lichtenstein, Sun Sentinel, 11 May 2025
Dreyer deked Seattle defender Jonathan Bell, cutting back on the run and then dumping the ball off to a streaking Godoy.
—Kyle Kensing, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 Apr. 2025
Less than a week after setting up Connor McDavid to win the 4 Nations Face-Off, Marner returned to Boston and deked his way past Jeremy Swayman for the overtime winner.
—Kevin Papetti, The Athletic, 26 Feb. 2025
Matthews failed to score on a breakaway in the early third but deked out Wolf enough to set up Knies for a tap-in and complete the assist hat trick.
—Kevin Papetti, The Athletic, 5 Feb. 2025
Stars forward Tyler Seguin walked in all alone and Thompson dropped his left pad early, anticipating Seguin would deke to the far side of the net.
—Jesse Granger, The Athletic, 6 Jan. 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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Last year, the Russians began including decoy drones with their Shahed drones to increase the likelihood of evading Ukrainian defenses.—
Vikram Mittal,
Forbes.com,
28 June 2025
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Cochran drove in a manner that indicated to Taylor that the sheriff was trying to evade him, Welch said.—
Joe Marusak,
Charlotte Observer,
28 June 2025
Verb
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Multiple federal health officials said planning has been ongoing for the next steps of the reorganization and merger, even as Kennedy has cited the court rulings as a reason to dodge questions about the restructuring on Capitol Hill.—
Alexander Tin,
CBS News,
1 July 2025
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This game has faster, more aggressive combat that pushes the focus onto dodging rather than parrying, which should lead to some very different – and likely very difficult – combat.—
Oliver Brandt,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Deke.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/deke. Accessed 11 Jul. 2025.
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