as in evaded
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 deked
Two minutes later, Mayhew found some space, deked to his backhand, and beat Francis to increase the lead to three.
—
Jack Murray, Boston Herald, 6 Mar. 2026
Rodrigues deked Woll and snuck the puck past him for the Panthers’ third goal of the period.
—Adam Lichtenstein, Sun Sentinel, 27 Feb. 2026
With only Canada goalie Jordan Binnington to beat, Haula deked him and buried the puck in the net.
—Andrew Greif, NBC news, 20 Feb. 2026
In overtime, which is played 3-on-3 rather than 5-on-5, Keller took a long pass from Taylor Heise, deked past a Canadian defender and lifted a shot over the pads and under the blocker of goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens for the game-winner, setting off a wild celebration.
—Jim Keyser, Idaho Statesman, 19 Feb. 2026
From a similar spot on the pitch, Poirier deked a defender and her centering pass was headed in by Aflakpi soon thereafter.
—Mike Cook, Twin Cities, 29 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
Jack Murray, Boston Herald, 6 Mar. 2026
Rodrigues deked Woll and snuck the puck past him for the Panthers’ third goal of the period.
—Adam Lichtenstein, Sun Sentinel, 27 Feb. 2026
With only Canada goalie Jordan Binnington to beat, Haula deked him and buried the puck in the net.
—Andrew Greif, NBC news, 20 Feb. 2026
In overtime, which is played 3-on-3 rather than 5-on-5, Keller took a long pass from Taylor Heise, deked past a Canadian defender and lifted a shot over the pads and under the blocker of goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens for the game-winner, setting off a wild celebration.
—Jim Keyser, Idaho Statesman, 19 Feb. 2026
From a similar spot on the pitch, Poirier deked a defender and her centering pass was headed in by Aflakpi soon thereafter.
—Mike Cook, Twin Cities, 29 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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for deked
Verb
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The ball fell to Ludmila, who evaded her defender and fired a shot toward goal, but the attempt sailed upward.—
Fernando Ramirez,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
15 Mar. 2026
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Cheaply produced one-way Iranian attack drones have successfully evaded billion-dollar air defense systems.—
Laura Kelly,
The Hill,
13 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Instead, Matthews juked Jeff Skinner, blowing by the Sabres forward.—
Joshua Kloke,
New York Times,
8 Jan. 2026
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Facing third-and-1 at midfield, running back RJ Harvey juked a charging George Karlaftis to move the chains for the drive’s first third-down conversion.—
Kansas City Star,
Kansas City Star,
26 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Deked.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/deked. Accessed 21 Mar. 2026.
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