palm off

verb

Definition of palm offnext
as in to wish
to offer (something fake, useless, or inferior) as genuine, useful, or valuable please stop trying to palm off your leftovers onto me

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 palm off 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, 11 July 2026 Lift your right palm off the ground and cross your torso to tap your left shoulder, then return your right hand to the ground. — Jenessa Connor, Health, 28 May 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 The unique shape helps keep your palm off the table while offering a spot for your thumb to rest. — Brenda Stolyar, Wired News, 9 May 2025 However, in spite of this price increase and attempts to palm off blame, there is hardly any middle-class anger even resembling that which existed during the last years of the UPA. — Shoaib Daniyal, Quartz India, 21 Feb. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for palm off
  1. wish
  2. pass off
  3. inflict
  4. impose
  5. fob off
  6. palm
Verb
  • Anyone with information or who wishes to report an incident involving Thornsberry is asked to call the sheriff's office at 248-537-3530.
    — CBS News, CBS News, 7 Nov. 2026
  • Now, with America having vociferously rejected Musk’s vision of governance, those wishing to drive something that reminds everyone around them of that vision will only have a few months more to purchase one.
    — Jonathan M. Gitlin, ArsTechnica, 6 Nov. 2026
Definition of wish
Verb
  • At least being listed on Temu is a warning in and of itself; nobody can argue that these fakes are being passed off as the real thing.
    — Stephen Edelstein, The Drive, 31 Oct. 2026
  • Coolly, Violet responds that to avoid alarming the public, a few agitators have beenneutralized—now there’s a sticky euphemism—and their deaths passed off as revenge killings among drug traffickers.
    — J. B. MacKinnon, Harpers Magazine, 27 Oct. 2026
Definition of pass off
Verb
  • What readers are saying The comments express outrage and sadness over the cruelty inflicted on kittens, with many calling for harsher penalties for animal abuse.
    — Kyle Melnick, Washington Post, 31 Oct. 2026
  • The crew threw live birds at her, inflicting real injuries and once coming dangerously close to hurting her eye.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 28 Oct. 2026
Definition of inflict
Verb
  • Researchers should not lose their next opportunity because of interruptions imposed on them.
    — Carole LaBonne, Washington Post, 8 Nov. 2026
  • The ballot measure, which would impose a one-time 5% tax on California billionaires to help fund healthcare, is failing by more than 8 percentage points.
    — Vanessa Martínez, Los Angeles Times, 7 Nov. 2026
Definition of impose
Verb
  • 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
  • Not only does Israel not have spare luxury jets lying around to fob off on the American president, but the country took nine years to retrofit and launch its own version of Air Force One, and the process was a national fiasco.
    — Yair Rosenberg, The Atlantic, 22 May 2025
Definition of fob off
Verb
  • Karl-Anthony Towns has been palming the ball since high school.
    — Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News, 2 Nov. 2026
  • For the final punchline, Bounou shuffled right, stood upright, and palmed away Crysencio Summerville’s effort.
    — Stuart James, New York Times, 7 July 2026
Definition of palm

Browse Nearby Words

palmists
palm off
palms
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Palm off.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/palm%20off. Accessed 10 Nov. 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

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of defer

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

31 Useful Rhetorical Devices

More Commonly Misspelled Words

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

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Longest Long Words List

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
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
woman sitting on floor holding book in front of her face on pink background
Famous Novels, Last Lines Quiz Needless to say, spoiler alert.
See All