as in palming off
to offer (something fake, useless, or inferior) as genuine, useful, or valuable
the con man tried to pass off a piece of blue glass as a sapphire
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Recent Examples of passing off
Eleanor ends up passing off the story of Bessie surviving a concentration camp in Poland as her own.
—
Dina Kaur, AZCentral.com, 25 Sep. 2025
The indictment also accused him of intentionally submitting checks drawn on insufficient funds and allegedly passing off another person’s Internet Movie Database Page as his own to convince one victim of his industry bona fides.
—Kevin Dolak, HollywoodReporter, 28 Aug. 2025
Dina Kaur, AZCentral.com, 25 Sep. 2025
The indictment also accused him of intentionally submitting checks drawn on insufficient funds and allegedly passing off another person’s Internet Movie Database Page as his own to convince one victim of his industry bona fides.
—Kevin Dolak, HollywoodReporter, 28 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for passing off
Verb
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Following the release, Hamas members who commit to peaceful coexistence and disarmament would receive amnesty, with safe passage offered to those wishing to leave Gaza for countries that have agreed to receive them.—
Amir Daftari,
MSNBC Newsweek,
1 Oct. 2025
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On September 27, Middleton showed off the hat in an Instagram post while wishing the team good luck in the Women's Rugby World Cup Final.—
Emily Tannenbaum,
Glamour,
27 Sep. 2025
Verb
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That shows me that something inside of her stopped her from inflicting harm another human being.—
Alexander Mallin,
ABC News,
3 Oct. 2025
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Multiple Democrats say Vought and the president were determined to use the shutdown as a pretense for inflicting further pain on political opponents.—
Franco Ordoñez,
NPR,
2 Oct. 2025
Verb
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His team wasn’t due to depart London until the day after the game, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ rookie coach thought that imposing a Sunday night curfew — a decree from the team’s front office — was a dubious idea.—
Michael Silver,
New York Times,
8 Oct. 2025
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At the hearing, Daniela Abratt Cohen, the attorney for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, pointed to the Parkland school shooter’s death penalty trial as precedent against sealing off the courtroom and imposing a gag order.—
Grethel Aguila,
Miami Herald,
7 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Passing off.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/passing%20off. Accessed 10 Oct. 2025.
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