as in to impose
to offer (something fake, useless, or inferior) as genuine, useful, or valuable shopkeepers who foist shoddy souvenirs on unsuspecting tourists

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 foist More puzzling is that some of those debating them are conservatives who, at least in the past, would have been the first to defend businesses against price controls foisted on them from the proverbial Commanding Heights. John Tamny, Forbes.com, 24 July 2025 Will importers succeed in foisting it on foreign suppliers? Paolo Confino, Fortune, 15 July 2025 Remar is a series regular on Resurrection, which is an upgrade from ghost Deb on New Blood — with apologies to Jennifer Carpenter, who always deserved better than what Dexter foisted on her. Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 11 July 2025 The cost is foisted off on the commons, in the form of a parking spot occupied all day. Rodney Brooks, IEEE Spectrum, 27 July 2017 See All Example Sentences for foist
Recent Examples of Synonyms for foist
Verb
  • Judge Steven Denny imposed the 60-year sentence that same day.
    Christina Coulter, PEOPLE, 25 Oct. 2025
  • He was forced to accept it, because it was imposed on him.
    Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker, 25 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • The Blackcoat's Daughter (2015) Moody and intricate (sometimes maddeningly so), this debut from Oz Perkins (son of Psycho star Anthony) inflicts supernatural horror and grief upon the students of a Catholic boarding school.
    Dennis Perkins, Entertainment Weekly, 31 Oct. 2025
  • That no one should be able to inflict such damage upon the country.
    Dan Perry, MSNBC Newsweek, 31 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • The State Department also joined in this call, saying that cash donations in such instances work best and that those wishing to donate should do their homework, both on who is splicing the donations and what is needed.
    Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 31 Oct. 2025
  • Students of cinema — or of fin-de-millénaire Americana, for that matter — will eat it up and wish heartily for seconds.
    Graham Hillard, The Washington Examiner, 31 Oct. 2025

Browse Nearby Words

Podcast

Cite this Entry

“Foist.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/foist. Accessed 6 Nov. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on foist

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

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