as in frustrated
to prevent from achieving a goal
in popular fiction the hero will always foil the villain's plans
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Recent Examples of foiled
The weekend, of course, was notable for an assassination attempt, foiled by quick-thinking Secret Service agents stationed outside the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
—
Rob Crilly, The Washington Examiner, 1 May 2026
The activists' attempt comes less than a year after Israeli authorities foiled a previous effort by the group to reach Gaza.
—ABC News, 30 Apr. 2026
The real dinner bucked with tradition, opting for a mentalist over a comedian — not that Oz Pearlman got very far into his act before the secret service foiled an attempt on the President’s life — so Kimmel picked up the skewering duties.
—Tony Maglio, HollywoodReporter, 29 Apr. 2026
Their murderous plot is foiled when two escaped prisoners and a guard crash the weekend.
—Glenn Garner, Deadline, 25 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for foiled
Rob Crilly, The Washington Examiner, 1 May 2026
The activists' attempt comes less than a year after Israeli authorities foiled a previous effort by the group to reach Gaza.
—ABC News, 30 Apr. 2026
The real dinner bucked with tradition, opting for a mentalist over a comedian — not that Oz Pearlman got very far into his act before the secret service foiled an attempt on the President’s life — so Kimmel picked up the skewering duties.
—Tony Maglio, HollywoodReporter, 29 Apr. 2026
Their murderous plot is foiled when two escaped prisoners and a guard crash the weekend.
—Glenn Garner, Deadline, 25 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for foiled
Recent Examples of Synonyms for foiled
Verb
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Galvin was frustrated with the police, and ultimately hired their own private investigor and created a Justice for Kianna social media page.—
Gloria Casas,
Chicago Tribune,
9 May 2026
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Stone has grown increasingly frustrated by the delays.—
Rebekah F. Ward,
Houston Chronicle,
7 May 2026
Verb
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In a famous case in 1969, residents of the town of Orgosolo successfully thwarted the construction of a firing range on communal grazing land known as Pratobello.—
IEEE Spectrum,
IEEE Spectrum,
7 May 2026
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In the gold medal game versus Canada, Hughes was an inch away from ending it early in overtime and was thwarted by a glove save.—
Jess Myers,
Twin Cities,
3 May 2026
Verb
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Abreu came through again with a sacrifice fly to score Jarren Duran in the bottom of the inning, but the potential Red Sox rally was hampered after Willson Contreras was thrown out at second trying to stretch a single into a double for the inning’s first out.—
Mac Cerullo,
Boston Herald,
8 May 2026
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The wear and tear of lengthy overtimes also hampered the Mammoth’s skaters.—
Shayna Goldman,
New York Times,
6 May 2026
Verb
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His gift is an uncanny ability to solve crimes that leave the LAPD baffled, armed only with the savvy and dry humor reminiscent of the gumshoe detectives of the noir genre.—
Melanie Goodfellow,
Deadline,
28 Apr. 2026
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During our overnight coverage on CNN, Jim Sciutto pointed out that people watching in other countries are baffled by this American attribute.—
Brian Stelter,
CNN Money,
26 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Once fierce rivals, the two men were responsible for the country’s first peaceful transfer of power between parties, after Jefferson and his Democratic-Republican Party defeated Adams and the Federalists in the election of 1800.—
Jelani Cobb,
New Yorker,
4 May 2026
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Disable my adblockerContinue without disabling Contact support|We're using DeVaux’s dream was realized in large part due to jockey Jose Ortiz, who defeated his own brother — who was on top of Renegade — for the win.—
Rohan Nadkarni,
NBC news,
3 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Foiled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/foiled. Accessed 10 May. 2026.
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