as in pretending
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in fooling
to cause to believe what is untrue
I bluffed the interviewer into believing that I could really speak French and thus would be the perfect person to serve in the newspaper's Paris bureau
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in assuming
to present a false appearance of
the basketball player bluffed a shot, then passed instead
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bluffing
Verb
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Liverpool are regularly seeing apps that replicate the appearance of genuine tickets — fooling not just first-time visitors to Anfield.—
James Pearce,
The Athletic,
2 Jan. 2025 -
The ultimate aim is, with the use of multiple layers of such transformations, fooling malware classifiers into thinking malicious code is, in fact, totally benign.—
Davey Winder,
Forbes,
24 Dec. 2024
Verb
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While maintaining a quirky and mysterious air, the show yields questions like, is a cult real if its creators are pretending but its followers aren’t?—
Ars Technica,
Ars Technica,
24 Dec. 2024
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June Squibb plays the titular Thelma, who gets taken in by a phone scammer pretending to be her grandson Danny (Fred Hechinger) to the tune of $10,000.—
Ars Technica,
Ars Technica,
23 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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McConnell took this bargain to a duplicitous extreme.—
David D. Kirkpatrick,
New Yorker,
31 Mar. 2025
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Take Stallone’s troubled Vietnam vet, Rambo, who hates prejudiced cops, duplicitous CIA agents and sadistic Soviet lieutenant colonels (not in that order).—
John DeVore,
Rolling Stone,
31 Mar. 2025
Verb
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As such, even assuming that some more tariffs are put on, the potential impact on China's economy overall is likely to be limited.—
Brendan Ahern,
Forbes,
8 Jan. 2025
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In the chaos, the girls' mother evacuated with another daughter, assuming Lama and Sama were with their father.—
Sarah Ferguson,
Forbes,
7 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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After Wednesday’s speech, some critics went online to accuse the governor of being hypocritical for making that charge against Trump in light of his pandemic actions.—
Rick Pearson,
Chicago Tribune,
23 Feb. 2025
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Phil Lyman, a former state representative and Trump supporter who challenged Mr. Cox for governor last year, said politicians like Mr. Cox were hypocritical.—
Kellen Browning,
New York Times,
18 Feb. 2025
Verb
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Arizona's temperature can be deceiving and deadly.—
Shelby Slade,
The Arizona Republic,
2 Jan. 2025
-
As Soon As This Week That number is certainly deceiving, though.—
Rob Reischel,
Forbes,
30 Dec. 2024
Verb
-
In addition to large-scale data theft, economic disruption, and intelligence breaches, quantum computers could be used for malicious purposes such as simulating and synthesizing chemical weapons or optimizing the flight trajectories of a swarm of drones.—
Charina Chou,
Foreign Affairs,
7 Jan. 2025
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Nvidia’s Omniverse allows users to put together world scenes digitally, simulating a physical environment.—
Meghan Hall,
Sourcing Journal,
7 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Trump must be laughing about Newsom’s obviously insincere flattery and being able to make the governor jump through his hoops.—
Dan Walters,
The Mercury News,
26 Feb. 2025
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Even insincere inquiries are generally appreciated.—
Aditi Shrikant,
CNBC,
26 Feb. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Bluffing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bluffing. Accessed 3 Apr. 2025.
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