fobbed off

verb

past tense of fob off
as in wished
to offer (something fake, useless, or inferior) as genuine, useful, or valuable people who try to fob off to charities broken-down furniture that is fit only for the junkyard

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of fobbed off Your potential clients are terrified of being sold the dream then fobbed off to a junior team member. — Jodie Cook, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fobbed off
  1. wished
  2. inflicted
  3. imposed
  4. passed off
  5. palmed off
  6. foisted
Verb
  • Being a cordial person, Larry wished his new boss a pleasant evening.
    — Blake J. Harris, Vulture, 12 Oct. 2026
  • And everyone in that crowd wished Busch, himself, could look back.
    — Alex Zietlow, Charlotte Observer, 10 Oct. 2026
Definition of wished
Verb
  • At issue before the court was the question of whether cities and states may sue oil and gas producers for the damages inflicted by climate change.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 5 Oct. 2026
  • The brutality and inhumanity that white Americans inflicted on free and enslaved Black people drove them out.
    — Karen Masterson, The Conversation, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of inflicted
Verb
  • Loudspeakers around the protest site warned that gatherings of five or more people were banned in parts of New Delhi, as authorities imposed sweeping security restrictions rarely seen in the capital.
    — Sheikh Saaliq, Los Angeles Times, 11 Oct. 2026
  • And just a few weeks after Trump signed a bill into law, sponsored by the late US Senator Lindsey Graham, allowing for punishing sanctions to be imposed on any country that bought Russian oil, Washington has now become a customer itself.
    — Matthew Chance, CNN Money, 11 Oct. 2026
Definition of imposed
Verb
  • Union members and their supporters were dressed colorfully, clad in red or green, and their march through the Brussels city center passed off peacefully.
    — Mark Carlson, Los Angeles Times, 9 Oct. 2026
  • Manipulated images of Meloni have repeatedly circulated online in recent years and have at times been passed off as authentic.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of passed off
Verb
  • France took the lead with a solo try from Ntamack, who ran down the short side from about 22-meters out, dummied, palmed off a defender and crashed over in a tackle in the 52nd, and conversion from skipper Maxime Lucu.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 11 July 2026
  • While other firms have trimmed entry-level hiring as AI takes over the admin tasks normally palmed off to younger workers, EY is actively investing in early-career talent.
    — Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 1 Apr. 2026
Definition of palmed off
Verb
  • And a hot young comic, Marshay (Brittney Ayona Clemons, convincing), is being foisted on Varnell to heighten youth appeal.
    — Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 1 Sep. 2026
  • For those who don’t know the history of the infamous drug, thalidomide was foisted on an unsuspecting public in the 1950s by the pharmaceutical industry as a mild sedative and later — tragically — to mask nausea in pregnant mothers.
    — Josh Schlossberg, Denver Post, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of foisted

Browse Nearby Words

foamy
fobbed off
fobbing off
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Fobbed off.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fobbed%20off. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

16 Food Words Recently Added to the Dictionary

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Bad Endings and Rough Situations

The Words of the Week - Oct. 9
See More

Popular

See More

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

16 Food Words Recently Added to the Dictionary

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
a cup of tea and a golf ball on tee side by side
Quiz: Sounds Like... Choose the word that sounds like it fits the clue...
See All