feint

But this is all a feint: The movie sets you up for one thing and then delivers another.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

There is no strict definition of a stutter, but under Fifa rules, a player is allowed to stop or feint during the run-up as long as they don't do it directly before kicking the ball.

From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026

Again, no storming, no lunging, not even a feint.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2025

It's a feint, an effort to scare his opponents into believing his ascension is unstoppable, so they stop fighting him.

From Salon ● Dec. 30, 2023

If I were khal, I would feint at Selhorys, let the Volan- tenes rush to defend it, then swing south and ride hard for Volantis itself.

From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin

War is filled with flopping, feints and trickery.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026

Kvaratskhelia's feints cause Stanisic to step up, rendering him unable to track the run in behind.

From BBC ● May 30, 2026

It was the culmination of a series of feints and bluffs in the preceding hours and days as the former reality TV star kept the world guessing.

From Barron's ● Feb. 28, 2026

During the next round, he was spinning David around with his footwork, working feints into elaborate movement patterns to leave David confused.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2023

He made two half-hearted feints toward the basket, hoping to catch Ben off balance and get an unchallenged set shot.

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy

The Italian was 0.3secs behind the McLaren crossing the line into the last lap, but although he feinted a move into Tarzan, he was not close enough to make it work.

From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026

Juventus turned the match around completely two minutes later when Vlahović ran onto a through-ball and into the area and feinted his way past Inter defender Danilo D’Ambrosio.

From Seattle Times ● May 11, 2022

Lang hammered his entrance like the first hard few drops of an incoming storm and just as quickly feinted into an airy, gentle touch, from the ground to the clouds in an instant.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 19, 2021

Then, Quinn feinted inside and broke toward the left pylon, where McCoy found him for a completion.

From Washington Times ● Jun. 7, 2018

Kate feinted to the side—moving as if to flee—and when Martina lunged to stop her, Kate snared her ankle with the lasso and jerked her off her feet.

From "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart

The senior pulled out to the elbow before feinting right, going left, dusting her defender and streaking to the goal.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 27, 2023

Moore for a 10-yard score — a pass made possible by Newton stepping up in the pocket, feinting a scramble to draw in the safety to leave Moore open.

From Washington Times ● Nov. 21, 2021

First, Turnbull slipped after feinting to play the ball out in his own box, and that allowed Mitchel Bakker to square for Hincapie to sweep home the opener on 25 minutes.

From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2021

A tournament-level chess player in his youth, he could be thinking several moves ahead, feinting to disguise his true strategy.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2021

He was oversimplifying here, skittering off there, dodging and feinting.

From "Go Set a Watchman: A Novel" by Harper Lee