fob off

as in to wish
to offer (something fake, useless, or inferior) as genuine, useful, or valuable people who try to fob off to charities broken-down furniture that is fit only for the junkyard

Synonyms & Similar Words

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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 fob off But despite previous transparency around the cost-cutting measures, employees inquiring about how the budget cuts have impacted their performance review will now be fobbed off. Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 29 Aug. 2023 Most chose instead to fob off the hard decisions to central bankers. William Pesek, Forbes, 10 Sep. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fob off
Verb
  • Burt buys Irving a one-way ticket and wishes him well as Irving heads off into the unknown.
    Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 14 Mar. 2025
  • Anyone wishing to donate to Swiantek’s family can do so at ourcommunityheros.org.
    Justin Muszynski, Hartford Courant, 14 Mar. 2025
Verb
  • Tom’s nagging emptiness does not have a core of profundity, but he’s also not passed off as a comic type (despite hauling out the same story about a bet with Rafael Nadal).
    Nicolas Rapold, Deadline, 16 Feb. 2025
  • Can pass off empty seats as just spoiled fans disinterested in a losing season.
    Steve Buckley, The Athletic, 2 Jan. 2025
Verb
  • Palico's attacks with blunt weapons do not inflict stun and exhaust damages.
    Faisal Kutty, Newsweek, 11 Mar. 2025
  • Most of the long-range kamikaze drones and missiles employed in recent conflicts have been shot down; those that get through tend to inflict little damage on their targets.
    Stacie L. Pettyjohn, Foreign Affairs, 10 Mar. 2025
Verb
  • This agreement, and others like it, didn’t do very much to mitigate the high tariffs imposed by the McKinley and Dingley Acts.
    John Cassidy, The New Yorker, 17 Mar. 2025
  • Trump earlier announced 25 percent targeted tariffs on Canada and Mexico, his country’s largest trade partners, and has threatened to impose tariffs on all Canadian goods imported into the U.S. on April 2.
    Etan Vlessing, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Mar. 2025
Verb
  • And there’s an art to delegating, without seemingly palming off work to your team.
    Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 2 Mar. 2023
  • Giannoli’s narrator lays out press performance in Balzacian details that sound absolutely contemporary: News, debate, and ideas had become goods to palm off on subscribers.
    Armond White, National Review, 10 June 2022
Verb
  • Both teams threatened with Mikel Merino’s header palmed away by Matz Sels and David Raya denying Chris Wood at the other end.
    James McNicholas, The Athletic, 26 Feb. 2025
  • His stunning, one-handed outlet passes — often completed in a single fluid motion, without ever bringing the ball below his shoulders after palming the rebound — resemble water polo passes.
    Bennett Durando, The Denver Post, 16 Feb. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Fob off.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fob%20off. Accessed 25 Mar. 2025.

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