bluff
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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Some interpreted the move as the market calling the Federal Reserve’s bluff.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 3, 2026
In a social media post Saturday, the department said the overnight erosion had left the bluff edge unstable, with “drop-offs of up to 8 feet” in some areas.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 2, 2026
“And he doesn’t bluff, either. What he does is groom us. He prepares us for things that would otherwise be unthinkable.”
From Salon ● May 26, 2026
At the toe of the bluff, the geotubes stretched out like a beached Leviathan.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 8, 2026
I said stupidly, hoping she wouldn’t call my bluff.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
Separately, it emerged at an ongoing inquiry that Mr Williams had described a campaigner who tried to draw attention to faults in Horizon software in 2015 as a "bluffer".
From BBC ● Apr. 18, 2024
He was a bluffer, implying he advised people he didn’t, and a leaker, ratting out his allies in pursuit of his own agenda.
From Slate ● Aug. 3, 2016
A bluffer, a gambler… he’d rather do it the hard way.
From New York Times ● Feb. 29, 2012
He'd been a bit of a bluffer at his first musical conservatoire.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 23, 2010
The hulls of Cabot, Columbus, and Cartier were broader in the beam, much bluffer in the bow, besides being full of top-hamper on the deck.
From All Afloat A Chronicle of Craft and Waterways by William Charles Henry Wood
Preparatory work had been done by a committee headed by Arthur Balfour Baron Riverdale of Sheffield, 62, one of Britain's biggest, baldest, blondest, bluffest steel tycoons.
From Time Magazine Archive
Biggest and bluffest of the four executive vice presidents is balding, 61-year-old Marvin E. Coyle, known as "Mr. Facts & Figures."
From Time Magazine Archive
At this stroke the man began to get angry; he frowned, and in his bluffest tone, began: "Look here now, you—" "Ta, ta, ta," interrupted M. Lecoq.
From The Mystery of Orcival by Émile Gaboriau
Among the latter may be classed Karl Steinmetz—the bluffest of the bluff—innocent even of his own innocence.
From The Sowers by Henry Seton Merriman
In his bluffest and heartiest way Blake refused to hear of such a thing.
From Love Eternal by Henry Rider Haggard
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
The runners made their way through the Via de las Olas bluffs, an area largely scorched by the fires.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 27, 2025
But she made a beeline back to the coast, settling in the craggy bluffs outside desirable Topanga.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 17, 2025
A short walk away is Legacy Park, an oasis of coastal prairies, bluffs and native woodlands.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2025
I pointed at the tall narrow hill that was currently hiding part of the bluffs from our sight.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
Later, when sent to a chemical plant, he volunteered to work as a welder and bluffed his way through a quiz designed to test his qualifications.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 2, 2026
With Green stepping back to flay an expected short ball, he was bluffed by a Carse yorker that splattered the stumps.
From BBC ● Dec. 5, 2025
He bluffed, saying he had no debit card.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 20, 2025
Mr. Spiegel had essentially bluffed his way into the cockpit as a skinny teenager from Greenwich Village, trusting he’d figure it out as he went.
From New York Times ● Dec. 17, 2021
John couldn’t have gone the rest of his life wondering if I had bluffed him out of a pot that big.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
As it turned out, the bluffing may have been unnecessary.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 25, 2026
Some said war was all but inevitable, while one salesman who gave his name as Mehdi predicted the negotiations would succeed, saying: "The Americans are bluffing."
From Barron's ● Feb. 25, 2026
Beneath all the bluffing lies a determination of credibility.
From Slate ● Nov. 20, 2025
“And, of course, I didn’t have a film festival. I had an idea for a film festival. So I was bluffing on both sides.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2025
He knows from years of playing Texas Hold’em with G’ma that whistling is her bluffing tell.
From "Clean Getaway" by Nic Stone
Vocabulary lists containing bluff
100 Words Every Middle Schooler Should Know
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Tricky Terms for April Fool's Day
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"The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell
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