as in defeating
to get the better of through cleverness
outmaneuvered his congressional opponent by co-opting his call for change in Washington
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Recent Examples of outmaneuvering
The Strategic Powerhouses These names are inspired by women who lead with their minds, outmaneuvering everyone in the room.
—
Lauren Brown West-Rosenthal, Parents, 19 Feb. 2026
Ian Terry won Big Brother season 14 at just 21 years old, becoming the show’s youngest champion after outmaneuvering veteran players with a quiet — but highly calculated — game.
—Samantha Stutsman, PEOPLE, 8 Jan. 2026
Mamdani will lead a city of over 8 million people, the capital of media, finance and much else, whose annual budget tops $116 billion, after outmaneuvering rivals with decades more experience in a race that captured national attention.
—Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 5 Nov. 2025
Relay is a smart, small-scale espionage film focused on operatives outmaneuvering one another.
—Scott Phillips, Forbes.com, 19 Aug. 2025
Lauren Brown West-Rosenthal, Parents, 19 Feb. 2026
Ian Terry won Big Brother season 14 at just 21 years old, becoming the show’s youngest champion after outmaneuvering veteran players with a quiet — but highly calculated — game.
—Samantha Stutsman, PEOPLE, 8 Jan. 2026
Mamdani will lead a city of over 8 million people, the capital of media, finance and much else, whose annual budget tops $116 billion, after outmaneuvering rivals with decades more experience in a race that captured national attention.
—Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 5 Nov. 2025
Relay is a smart, small-scale espionage film focused on operatives outmaneuvering one another.
—Scott Phillips, Forbes.com, 19 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for outmaneuvering
Verb
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The Fairfield University women’s basketball team will head back to the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year, after defeating Quinnipiac 51-44 Monday night in the MAAC championship game and getting the conference’s automatic berth in Atlantic City.—
Lori Riley,
Hartford Courant,
10 Mar. 2026
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The Bobcats showed flickers of promise, nearly defeating Troy and Georgia Southern in the regular season.—
Caleb Yum,
Austin American Statesman,
9 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Folktales are filled with people fighting to survive in forests, steppes, and deserts, and evading and outwitting the wild beasts that dwell within them.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
18 Feb. 2026
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The characters here, though, are nowhere near so smart as those conniving pagans and can only dream of outwitting the sophisticated folk from the mainland, coming there with their talk of cake, and comfy chairs, and their lies.—
Damon Wise,
Deadline,
22 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Invite critiques to maintain humility Nicholas likes to tell his team that loyalty in retail is just the absence of something better, and he is driven by a fear of rivals like Costco outsmarting his business.—
Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson,
semafor.com,
17 Oct. 2025
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Because some of them act like complete idiots, but Wendy is constantly outsmarting everyone.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
18 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Israel says its attacks are aimed at thwarting any attempt by Hezbollah to reconstitute a presence near the border.—
Nabih Bulos,
Los Angeles Times,
5 Mar. 2026
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The ceiling thwarting her exceptional talent originated from the constraints of tradition.—
Marcus Thompson II,
New York Times,
4 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Defamation, which refers to a false statement of fact that is reputationally damaging, and false light, which is a technically true statement but is presented in a highly deceiving fashion, are other possible legal actions.—
Michael McCann,
Sportico.com,
9 Mar. 2026
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Looks, too, can be deceiving for those not on the grounds.—
Douglas Robson,
Los Angeles Times,
7 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Whether a brave, thrilling but ultimately unsuccessful attempt at overcoming a seemingly impossible target of 254 to beat India and reach the T20 World Cup final will be enough to make up for England’s desperately disappointing winter.—
Paul Newman,
New York Times,
5 Mar. 2026
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His big struggle was overcoming the same challenge most pitchers face after a long layoff.—
Kevin Acee,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
4 Mar. 2026
Verb
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But Baio says Kassotis has been fooling people for years.—
Erin Moriarty,
CBS News,
8 Mar. 2026
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Indeed, depth would only get in the way of the plot, which is primarily concerned with fooling you and fooling you again.—
Television Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
7 Feb. 2026
Verb
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But some Bay Area cities and counties already have decided that the Flock Safety tools are too overreaching.—
Rick Hurd,
Mercury News,
27 Feb. 2026
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That caused some unease in the business community that Douglas County was overreaching.—
John Aguilar,
Denver Post,
25 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Outmaneuvering.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/outmaneuvering. Accessed 13 Mar. 2026.
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