smoke screen

noun

Definition of smoke screennext
as in front

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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 smoke screen And, while the smoke screen of the war is going on, China is ramping up their activities. — Morgan Chittum,matthew J. Belvedere, CNBC, 14 Mar. 2026 Their smoke screens covered many square miles and needed fewer people to operate them. — Natalia Sánchez Loayza, Scientific American, 13 Mar. 2026 The exposure of political smoke screens The uprising also exposed manufactured alternatives. — Kazem Kazerounian, Hartford Courant, 18 Jan. 2026 Another thing worth noting is that there are plenty of smoke screens that emerge from the winter meetings. — Aaliyan Mohammed, MSNBC Newsweek, 9 Dec. 2025 See All Example Sentences for smoke screen
Recent Examples of Synonyms for smoke screen
  1. front
  2. blind
  3. swindle
  4. hoax
  5. fraud
  6. duplicity
  7. chicanery
  8. end run
Noun
  • The exact timing of the front remains uncertain, and if the storms arrive a little sooner, the severe threat will not be as great as Monday.
    — Andrew Kozak, CBS News, 10 Aug. 2026
  • When units find technology that performs well at an acceptable cost, adoption can spread quickly across the front.
    — David Kirichenko, Forbes.com, 9 Aug. 2026
Definition of front
Noun
  • The second installation attempt for the large blind was successful.
    — Scott Kramer, Forbes.com, 10 Aug. 2026
  • If that metering proves accurate enough in real-world use, the C100 could be both a fun blind-shooting gadget and a handy companion for film photographers.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 10 Aug. 2026
Definition of blind
Noun
  • In a case pending in federal court in Oakland, California, three Facebook users allege that the company profits from online swindles at the expense of users.
    — David Ingram, NBC news, 12 May 2026
  • Supporting characters add to the plot, as Chance needs help from his former crew, most of whom have gone straight but can’t resist the lure of the swindle.
    — Oline H. Cogdill, Sun Sentinel, 28 Apr. 2026
Definition of swindle
Noun
  • Rumors claim that the virus is a hoax, that health workers are profiting from the outbreak or that hospitals are withholding lifesaving treatments.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 7 Aug. 2026
  • America’s penny press transformed journalism in the 1830s, using hoaxes, sensationalism, and mass circulation to create a blueprint for modern media.
    — Big Think, Big Think, 4 Aug. 2026
Definition of hoax
Noun
  • An extraditable arrest warrant was obtained on charges of first-degree identity theft, second-degree money laundering, first-degree larceny, criminal impersonation and second-degree telephone fraud.
    — Staff Report, Hartford Courant, 7 Aug. 2026
  • But even some of the grants slated to fund more traditional human rights projects skirt federal requirements for competitive bidding that are meant to deter waste, fraud and abuse.
    — Anna Maria Barry-Jester, ProPublica, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of fraud
Noun
  • Such fraudulence bore only poisoned fruit, swelling overseas bank accounts for the Manchurian candidates who were seeding duplicity into the loam of their nation’s imagination.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 6 Aug. 2026
  • This latest act of duplicity is a new low, even for the HFPA.
    — Winston Cho, HollywoodReporter, 28 July 2026
Definition of duplicity
Noun
  • But both parties increasingly justify the chicanery, because the stakes of winning elections and keeping power are simply too high.
    — S.E. Cupp, New York Daily News, 8 July 2026
  • There’s a tremendous amount of financial chicanery that goes on in 2026.
    — Chris Murphy, Vanity Fair, 11 June 2026
Definition of chicanery
Noun
  • Now the federal government has launched a voucher program by making an end run around state legislatures.
    — Peter Greene, Forbes.com, 22 July 2026
  • Castaneda, Marshall writes, made an end run around the department’s Yaqui expert, with the other committee members overly impressed by his au courant melange of fieldwork and gauzy ruminations, despite the fact that his timelines and grasp of mycology didn’t make sense.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 23 June 2026
Definition of end run

Browse Nearby Words

smokes
smoke screen
smoke screens
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Smoke screen.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/smoke%20screen. Accessed 15 Aug. 2026.

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